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EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL 
DEFECTIVES 



lElmfatUmal Pagrlyologg ilottograylyH 

iEitUfli bg dug Mantca&e Wif'xpplt 
No. 7 

Experimental Studies of Mental 
Defectives 

A Critique of the Binet-Simon Tests and a Contribution 
to the Psychology of Epilepsy 

,. ■' By 

J. E. WALLACE WALLIN, Ph.D. 

Director of Psychological Clinic, School of Education, 
University of Pittsburgh 

Author of Optical Illusions of Reversible Perspective, 
Spelling Efficiency, Etc. 




laltlmnr?, 11 &. A. 

WARWICK & YORK, Inc. 

1912 






Copyright, 1912 
By WARWICK AND YORK, INC. 



©CIA. 3432 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

In this, the seventh of the series of Educational Psy- 
chology Monographs, Dr. Wallin has presented the 
results of a systematic critical study of the Binet- 
Simon scale when applied to a colony of over three 
hundred epileptics. 

These results will appeal to schoolmen and to 
physicians and alienists for two reasons. In the first 
place, they have added to our knowledge of the men- 
tal status of the epileptic. Epilepsy has long re- 
mained a little-understood disease. We are told that 
some men who have attained eminence have been 
epileptic, e. g., Julius Caesar, Mohammed, and prob- 
ably St. Paul, to cite conspicuous instances ; yet the 
great majority of those afflicted with the malady fail 
to reach normal mental maturity, and fall, as Dr. 
"Wallin shows, into the upper group of the feeble- 
minded, now known as morons. These children re- 
semble more the typical laggard of the public schools 
than the typical feeble-minded child, and they re- 
quire special educational treatment. For this reason 
the more we can discover as to the psychology of the 
epileptic, the more successful will be our educational 
measures. 

In the second place, these results have added to 
our knowledge of the Binet-Simon tests. The fact 
that these tests are being widely adopted by school 
authorities as a convenient and assumedly scientific 



vi editor's preface 

method of measuring retardation or acceleration of 
mental development makes any careful study of their 
reliability of direct practical importance. And the 
more so, because, as Dr. Wallin's investigation 
shows, the tests in question are far from being so 
simple and so universally applicable a tool as many 
laymen have supposed. On the contrary, despite 
their undeniably great practical value, they suffer 
from numerous imperfections and limitations. These 
defects can be made known only by thoroughgoing 
trial on large groups of individuals by expert inves- 
tigators. This monograph makes a valuable contri- 
bution to this critique of the tests. Dr. Wallin be- 
lieves that the reconstruction and perfection of the 
tests by competent research should not be allowed 
to conflict with the continued use of the 1908 scale 
according to prescribed standard conditions. For 
this reason a guide to the conduct of the 1908 series 
(reprinted, with the permission of its editor, from 
The Psychological Clinic, December 15, 1911) is in- 
corporated herewith as the final chapter of the 
monograph. 

Guy Montrose Whipple. 



TO MY FIEST PRECEPTOR 

IN PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY, 

EDWARD FRY BARTHOLOMEW. 



FOEEWORD, 

The following experimental studies represent 
some of the fruits of my psychological and anthro- 
pometric investigations of epileptics in The New 
Jersey State Village for Epileptics at Skillman from 
October, 1910, to and including May, 1911. A second 
comparative psychological research of public school 
children and epileptic school children, by a set of 
serial rate tests of development, will appear in a 
separate volume at some later date. 

I feel that no apology is needed for the time and 
pains devoted to the critical examination of the 
Binet-Simon scale of intellectual development. This 
scale has recently been victimized by the indiscrimi- 
nate exploiter. It has been hailed by popular writers 
in the daily and periodical press, and even by scien- 
tific workers, as a wonderful mental X-ray machine, 
which will enable us to dissect the mental and moral 
mechanisms of any normal or abnormal individual. 

But these tests are no ''open sesame" to the hu- 
man mind, no talisman that will transform an ordi- 
nary observer into a psychic wizard. Because the 
scale is coming into wide use in the public schools, 
the psychopathic and criminological institutes, and 
institutions for mental and moral defectives, and 
because it is being appropriated by ordinary class- 
room teachers and persons having no technical train- 
ing in clinical psychology or knowing little about 
scientific method in general, it is worth while to point 



2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

out its legitimate uses as well as its limitations and 
present imperfections. These tests need to be safe- 
guarded from uncritical exploitation and mystifica- 
tion, and rescued from the educational fakers and 
medical quacks. I shall feel well repaid for my 
labors if this contribution arouses students to a full 
realization of the necessity of a further prolonged 
and systematic critical study of the scale. 

These studies — as well as those which will fol- 
low — should appeal to the students of defectives and 
the problems of human variation. The serviceability 
of the Binet-Simon scale, despite its imperfections, 
in determining the mental status of defectives, will 
be seen. Moreover, the study of epileptics should 
interest particularly the alienist and physician, and 
the schoolman: the alienist and physician, because 
epilepsy is a pathological condition as yet little un- 
derstood, characterized by marked mental disturb- 
ances; the schoolman, because the epileptic children 
constitute a numerous class which grades nearer the 
public school laggard than do the feeble-minded chil- 
dren, and which cannot be reached by the cut-and- 
dried methods of the schools, but which requires a 
special educational regime. 

I have designedly contented myself with a purely 
empirical and experimental exposition, leaving the 
reader to work out the implications and draw his 
own conclusions from the facts supplied. The facts 
tell their own story. To have pointed out the vari- 
ous practical and theoretical implications affecting 
the education, care and training of epileptics would 
have unduly extended the size of the monograph. 

J. E. W. W. 

February, 1912. 



CONTENTS. 

Editor's Preface v 

Foreword 1 

CHAPTER I. 

Introduction. The Binet- Simon Scale as an In- 
strument for Classifying" Defectives .... 5 

CHAPTER II. 

Testing the Binet-Simon Tests : An Exemplifi- 
cation of an Adequate Method of Analysis . 20 

CHAPTER III. 

The Variation of Mental and Physical Traits in 
Relation to the Age Classification of the Binet- 
Simon Scale 59 

CHAPTER IV. 

A Practical Guide for the Administration of 
the Binet-Simon Scale for Measuring Intel- 
ligence . 116 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. THE BINET-SIMON SCALE AS AN INSTRU- 
MENT FOR CLASSIFYING MENTAL DEFECTIVES^ 

The functions of a clinical psychologist in an insti- 
tution for defectives, in a public school system, in a 
university, in a psychiatric institute, or in a juvenile 
court, are twofold: first, that of theoretical inves- 
tigation, or the increase of knowledge under con- 
trolled and verifiable conditions. This is essentially 
the work of the research psychologist or of pure 
science, so-called; second, that of practical applica- 
tion, or the utilization of the truths discovered in the 
educational, vocational, recreational, hygienic, med- 
ical and custodial treatment of the sufferers. This 
is the work of the consulting psychologist as distin- 
guished from the pure researcher, and constitutes 
the sphere of orthogenesis,^ mental hygiene, or ap- 
plied clinical psychology. While the line of demarca- 
tion between these two aims should not be made too 
fast and hard, logically the work of investigation in 
an infant science should take chronological prece- 
dence to the work of consultation, as, indeed, science 
logically must precede true art. The art of righting 
defectives cannot rise above the empirical until it is 

^This chapter has been adapted, by permission, from a paper read 
before the St. Louis meeting of the National Association for the 
Study of Epilepsy, and printed in the Transactions of the Association 
for 1911, Vol. VIII, pp. 29f. 

^In its twofold aspect of orthophrenics and orthosomatics, as ex- 
plained elsewhere : J. E. Wallace Wallin, Individual and Group Effi- 
ciency, Psychological Bulletin, 9 : 19X2, October. 

5 



C EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

based upon a foundation of assured facts. Until we 
thoroughly understand the different types of ner- 
vous and mental defectives our treatment cannot be 
made maximally effective. For these reasons I pur- 
posely aimed to confine my work in the psycho-clin- 
ical laboratory at Skillman entirely to research, and 
for these reasons I shall limit the discussion in the 
following pages almost entirely to a consideration 
and interpretation of the facts brought out in the 
investigations. 

During my eight months' stay at the institution 
the following surveys^ of the Village were completed 
(completed as far as measuring or testing each pa- 
tient once is concerned) : measurements of standing 
and sitting heights, of weight, of lung capacity, of 
the strength of right and left hand grip, of station 
or body sway, of the speed of performing the form- 
board test (replacing ten blocks of various forms 
in corresponding holes in a board), and of intel- 
lectual capacity, or the extent of intellectual retarda- 
tion, as evidenced by the Binet-Simon serial diag- 
nostic scale. 

In addition to the above, a special set of tests was 
carried out, designed to show the character and ex- 
tent of the deviation or disorganization found in epi- 
leptics in respect to a number of particular mental 
traits and capacities which play a basic role in men- 

'The other lines of investigation started during this period comprise 
a series of measurements of the effects of convulsions upon various 
mental traits and capacities, and an investigation into the personal, 
social, motor, industrial and school efBciencies of epileptics. The lat- 
ter was carried out by meansi of the printed questionnaire or syllabus 
method. See Wallin, Human EflSciency : A Plan for the Observa- 
tional, Clinical and Experimental Study of the Personal, Social, In- 
dustrial, School and Intellectual Efficiencies of Normal and Abnormal 
Individuals, Pedagogical Seminary, 18 : 1911, 74ff. 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIFYING DEFECTIVES 7 

tal development. These tests include an extended 
series of controlled group measurements of the 
speed and accuracy of perception, perceptual dis- 
crimination, observation and reaction; the capacity 
to memorize, and the power of immediate and pro- 
longed retention; the capacity and rate of forming 
spontaneous associations with determinate ante- 
cedents ; the ability to form such controlled associa- 
tions as are involved in adding columns of ten one- 
place digits and of supplying antonyms to a set of 
simple words; the ability to retain a list of logical 
and illogical sequents, with determinate antecedents, 
from one reading by the experimenter both during a 
period of two minutes and during a period of four 
weeks ; the capacity for visual imagination, and the 
capacity for linguistic construction as evidenced by 
the ability to construct a maximal number of words 
from six supplied letters, and by the ability to form 
a maximal number of sentences each of which had to 
contain three supplied nouns or verbs. This set of 
differential tests was elaborated into six consecutive 
series and was given every twenty-eighth day to 
groups of the brightest epileptic school children at 
the Village and to somewhat less than 100 bright, 
average and backward pupils in the public schools 
of a nearby town. The results of the testing in the 
public schools will enable us to plot a series of nor- 
mal age norms of the functional capacity of the vari- 
ous traits tested. By means of such comparative 
scales or indices it will not only be possible to bring 
epileptics, or other types of defective individuals, 
into perspective with normal children, but to plot 
individual curves of developmental defects or accel- 
erations in the case of any abnormal or supernormal 



8 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

child. Moreover, since all of the successive tests, 
while different, are practically of the same difficulty, 
it is possible, by giving them at stated intervals 
(monthly, semi-annually, annually, etc.), to plot rate 
curves of development ; that is, it is possible to meas- 
ure experimentally the rate of improvement or de- 
velopment which various mental traits undergo from 
time to time as a result of normal maturation, or of 
education, training, practice, or familiarity.^ 

The desirability, or even the feasibility, of estab- 
lishing psychological rate-norms of development has, 
strangely, scarcely dawned upon us until recently, 
although the practical value of such norms is pos- 
sibly greater than the value of the corresponding 
anthropometric standards of yearly development 
during the growth period of height, weight, physical 
energy and vital capacity. The importance of a set 
of anthropometric norms, arranged on the grade or 
percentile basis, has been eloquently set forth by the 
lamented Sir Francis Galton, to whose comprehen- 
sive intellect many sciences have become indebted. 
Thanks to the labors of a few of Galton 's followers, 
notably Bowditch, Porter and Smedley, we now pos- 
sess a set of fairly reliable norms of physical devel- 
opment for certain ages, by means of which we are 
able to determine the physical station of a given 
child of a given age, and by means of which we can 
say whether his physical progress is normal or sat- 

'One of my aims in devising these tests was to secure experimental 
means for measuring results in education, such as the effects of dental 
and medical hygiene, schoolroom moisture and temperature, diurnal 
and seasonal changes, fatigue, the use of tobacco, upon the working 
efficiency of the pupil, and upon the growth and development of various 
mental functions. A description of five of these tests will be found in 
Wallin, Experimental Oral Euthenics, Dental Cosmos, 54 : 1912, 404- 
413; 545-566. (See also references.) 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIFYING DEFECTIVES U 

isfactory as measured by the percentile grade to 
which he belongs (using height as the basis of com- 
parison). But we are now beginning to realize that 
we cannot properly diagnose developmental defects 
of the mind until we have constructed a similar set 
of psychic norms of development of various traits 
and capacities. When we have psychic norms for 
specialized, capacities, we shall be able to locate the 
mental station of a given child at a given time, and 
determine whether his rate of mental development 
is normal for the grade in which he classifies. These 
norms will possess fundamental value for purposes 
of developmental diagnosis in the study of not 
merely the lesser deviations, but also the more pro- 
found mental abnormalities. To supply these men- 
tal developmental scales is chiefly a matter of time, 
labor and ingenuity : the instrumental and technical 
difficulties are secondary. Such scales will not, of 
course, attain the accuracy of refined physical meas- 
ures, but they will be far superior to our present 
'common sense' judgments. The fair degree of suc- 
cess attained by the simple Binet-Simon tests of in- 
telligence justifies the belief that this problem, baf- 
fling as it seems, is not insoluble. By means of the 
above serial group tests I am hoping at some later 
date to make some little addition to our knowledge 
in this largely unexplored, but inviting and impor- 
tant, field of inquiry. Aside from the value which 
the data from these tests will have for developmental 
diagnosis, the results may also be used as a means 
by which to check up the accuracy of the Binet-Simon 
tests, with the consideration of which I shall be 
chiefly concerned in the present volume. The latter 
tests are such a striking contribution to our methods 



10 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

of studying defectives that too much time cannot be 
spent in the effort to give them their proper eval- 
uation. 

Those who may be unfamiliar with the B.-S. 
(Binet-Simon) tests should consult Chapter IV. It 
may be explained here that they constitute an ex- 
tremely simple and yet fairly serviceable measuring 
rod of intellectual capacity. The scale consists of a 
graded series of 62 individual tests (including the 
one- and two-year-old tests), varying in number from 
three to eight for each of the first thirteen years of 
life. To illustrate: a child who follows visually a 
lighted match moved in front of his face, who grasps 
and handles a block placed in his hand, and who 
grasps a suspended cylinder, is credited with a men- 
tality of one year. A one-year-old child normally 
does these things. A child who can state his sex, 
who recognizes common objects, such as a knife, 
penny and key, who can repeat three numerals when 
heard once, and who can designate the longer or 
shorter of two lines differing by one centimeter, is 
rated as four years old mentally. By means of a 
scale of this sort it is possible, therefore, to classify 
individuals approximately according to their degree 
of intelligence, and to measure the extent of intel- 
lectual arrest, retardation or degeneration shown by 
subnormal individuals, or the extent of precocity or 
acceleration shown by supernormal individuals. 
This scale is the product of laborious and ingenious 
research by the noted French psychologist, Binet, 
and his co-worker, Simon. The standards fixed for 
each age are supposed to represent the normal per- 
formances of French children of the working classes. 

In the present chapter I shall limit myself to show- 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIFYING DEFECTIVES 11 

ing how a colony of epileptics classify by the B.-S. 
scale, and to pointing out certain striking peculiari- 
ties or anomalies in the curve of distribution, which, 
while they may be caused by various factors, either 
implicate fundamental abnormalities in the mental 
make-up of the epileptic or fundamental defects in 
the B.-S. tests. 



GRAPH I. 



Classification of 333 Epileptics ( 

( ) by the Binet-Simon Method. 



) and 378 Feeble-Minded 



B.-S. Ages 




9 10 11 12 13 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIFYING DEFECTIVES 13 



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14 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

Confining our attention to the gross or the group 
classification, it is seen that the 333^ epileptics in- 
cluded in Table I classify as follows : 5.7% are idiots 
(mentality of I and 11 years), 27.3% are imbeciles 
(mentality of III to VII), 61.5% are morons (men- 
tality of VIII to XII), and 5.4% have a mentality of 
XIII years or over.- In all, 82.8 % have a mentality 
of less than eleven j^ears. The idiot and the XIII- 
year-olds are about equally infrequent, while the 
morons are decidedly preponderant. 

These results will attain added significance if we 
compare them with the B.-S. distribution for the 378 
feeble-minded inmates tested at the Training School 
in Vineland, New Jersey.^ Nineteen and two-tenths 
per cent, of the feeble-minded are idiots, 54% are 
imbeciles, 26% are morons, not a single one grades 
as thirteen, and 96.4% grade less than eleven years 
of age mentally.* The feeble-minded idiots are about 
three and one-half times as numerous as the epilep- 
tic idiots, and the feeble-minded imbeciles about two 
times as numerous as the epileptic imbeciles. On the 
other hand, the epileptic morons are more than two 

^Those epileptics were excluded from the tabulation who had not had 
a convulsion within a period of two years, and a few others who were 
not thoroughly tested because of certain sensory defects. The number 
of patients of each mental age is shown in Table I. The patients were 
in their normal condition during the testing. Patients who passed in 
two of the 13-year tests were credited with this age, provided they also 
passed at least five tests in Ages XI and XII. Drawing one triangle 
was accepted for the first of the 13-year-old tests. 

"Ages printed in Roman numerals throughout this monograph refer 
to mental as distinguished from chronological age, and refer to the 
mental ages indicated in the Binet-Simon scale. 

'Henry Herbert Goddard, Journal of Psycho- Asthenics, 15 (Nos. 1 
and 2), 1910. 

*The per cents, for each age are as follows : Age I, 9.5% ; II, 9.7% ; 
III, 10.5%; IV, 9.8%; V, 11.1%,; VI, 10.2%; VII, 12.4%; VIII, 
11.6%, ; IX, 7.9% ; X, 3.7% ; XI, 1.3%,, and XII, 1.8%. 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIFYING DEFECTIVES 15 

and one-half times as numerous as the feeble-minded 
morons. While the great mass of people in both of 
these classes of defectives have a mentality of less 
than XI years, the proportion is 13.6% greater 
among the feeble-minded than among the epileptics. 
As found in institutions at least, the typical epileptic 
condition is moronity (five-eighths of the entire num- 
ber), while the typical feeble-minded condition is 
imbecility (more than one-half of the entire number). 

These figures indicate that there is a marked dif- 
ference between the grade of intelligence of epileptic 
dements and that of feeble-minded retardates.^ 

One reason for the superiority of the epileptics may 
be the fact that, relatively, a larger number of the 
feeble-minded than of the epileptics were youths. 
Fifty per cent, of the feeble-minded were under 21, 
while only 30% of the epileptics were under 21. As 
the B.-S. scale is now constituted, it may be assumed 
that defective adults will grade somewhat higher 
than defective children, as is indeed indicated in 
Table I. Sixty-five and four-tenths per cent, of the 
adults are morons (mentality of from Age VIII to 
Age XII, inclusive), while only 53.6% of the children 
are morons, and 7.1% of the adults grade XIII years 
as contrasted with 1.8% of the children. The adults 
among defectives possess a larger storehouse of ex- 
perience and acquired knowledge. At the same time, 
the epileptic superiority will attain added prominence 



'Space does not avail to point out the practical implications of this 
fact, but we may emphasize a growing conviction that epileptic and 
feeble-minded persons should not be huddled together in the same 
institution. The differences in the mental station — not to mention 
other significant differences — between these two classes are such that 
they can be most humanely cared for in separate institutions, or at 
least in separate divisions in the same institution. 



16 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

if we constitute the Xlll-year-olds a separate class 
above the feeble-minded line, which we may regard 
as normal, or as retarded or deviating, though not to 
such an extent as to render the individuals feeble- 
minded. We should then have to add to this class all 
the epileptic children who are retarded less than 
three years (children retarded less than three years 
should probably not be rated as feeble-minded). 
There are nine of these — five boys and four girls. 
Adding these to the Xlll-year-olds, we get a total of 
27^ normals, or deviates, which is 8.1% of the entire 
group. 

This figure (8.1%) we are justified, I believe, in 
regarding as a lower limiting value for two reasons. 
First, the tests in the higher ages are, as will be seen 
in later pages, too difficult for the typical American 
child for the ages to which they are assigned. To get 
a check on these higher tests, I made use of the fol- 
lowing means: A few of the supervisors and offi- 
cers at Skillman who had known the patients inti- 
mately for a considerable length of time were asked 
to prepare estimates of the number of patients whom 
they regarded as ranking above the feeble-minded 
station. Three of these officers, quite independently, 
made for the total population the same estimate, 
namely, 10%. Five men made separate and inde- 
pendent estimates of the total male population as 
follows : 11, 11, 13, 14 and 20%. With one exception, 
these estimates agree fairly well. With the tests as 
at present constituted, it is a question whether the 
line of feeble-mindedness should not be drawn be- 

^It is interesting to note that among these 27 there is only one who 
can be regarded as above normal, a boy somewhat less than twelve 
years who grades as thirteen. 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIFYING DEFECTIVES 17 

tween eleven and twelve instead of between twelve 
and thirteen, as has been done tentatively by the 
American Association for the Study of Feeble-Mind- 
edness. A number of our Xll-year-olds certainly 
are very slightly, if at all, feeble-minded. 

A second reason why the percentage of normals 
may be too low is the fact that the institutional cases 
at Skillman may not be representative. Our curve 
in general is valid on the assumption that the epi- 
leptics tested are typical. According to the theory 
of the probability surface, we are justified in regard- 
ing them as typical, provided the selection repre- 
sents a chance distribution. But it is possible that 
two selective processes have operated in a way to 
distort both extremes of the curve. The reason that 
the idiots are so few may be due to the fact that the 
higher grade epileptics have received preference in 
admission to the institution. The introduction of a 
constant factor of this sort would skew the fre- 
quency curve in the direction of the upper limit. 
This tendency would probably stop short, however, 
before it reached the extreme end of the curve, be- 
cause it is also probable that the highest grade of 
epileptics from the better social classes are very 
rarely found in State institutions. We shall not be 
able to settle this point definitely until other institu- 
tions have prosecuted similar studies on a larger 
scale. 

In spite of these elements of uncertainty, the above 
facts seem to warrant three general conclusions: 
First, that the great mass of epileptics (possibly 
from 85 to 90% ) fall below the feeble-minded line — 
just how much inferior the higher grade epileptics 
are to those persons taken at random in the general 



18 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

population whose schooling and training are about 
of the same character we shall be in no position to 
say until comparative studies by identical methods 
have been made ; second, that they do not fall below 
this line to such an extent as the amented feeble- 
minded class ; and third, that the curves of distribu- 
tion differ markedly for the two classes, a fact to 
which we shall now direct attention. 

One of the significant traits of the epileptic curve 
is its decidedly shewed or anomalous character, 
noticeable particularly between Ages VIII and XI. 
The curve presents a marked contrast to the curve 
of feeble-mindedness in respect to its frequency sur- 
face. The latter curve is characterized by a fairly 
uniform rise up to and including Age VII, and by a 
rapid and uniform fall after Age VIII. It has more 
or less of the normal bell-shaped appearance. But 
in the epileptic curve there are two irregular drops 
in the ascending portion, a minor at V and a major at 
IX. The former does not possess much significance 
because of the small number of subjects tested in the 
lower ages. It may be regarded merely as a fortui- 
tous phenomenon. But in a typical curve of fre- 
quency the rise from Age VI would have continued 
without any marked break at IX to the apex at X. It 
is apparent, therefore, that those accidental factors 
which normally operate to produce an unskewed or 
bell- shaped curve of frequency were rendered more 
or less inoperative in our testing by some constant 
factor or factors. These factors may reside in the 
method of giving the tests, in the method of scoring, 
in the defective nature or arrangement of the tests 
themselves, in the peculiar mental organization of 
the epileptic (either as a result of inborn constitu- 



BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR CLASSIB^YING DEFECTIVES 19 

tion or as a result of the disorganizing processes of 
the disease), or in the averaging of the results for 
both defective children and defective adults. For 
example: We find 24.9% of the epileptics grading X 
years old, as against 8.4% grading IX years old; 
hence, either there must be certain defects in the 
mentality of epileptics at the IX-year level, or we 
must consider the X-year-old tests as normally too 
easy, or the IX-year tests as too difficult, or other- 
wise some factor extraneous to the tests themselves 
has been operative. 

In order to arrive at a correct explanation of the 
skews in our epileptic curve we shall, in Chapter II, 
undertake a minute analysis of the data. 



CHAPTER II. 

TESTING THE BTNET-SIMON TESTS : AN EXEMPLIFICATION 
OF AN ADEQUATE METHOD OF ANALYSIS. 

In the preceding chapter we noted the approxi- 
mate conformity of the feehle-minded curve to the 
normal probability surface, and the skewed charac- 
ter, or the distinct divergence of the epileptic curve 
from the bell-shaped distribution which would, on 
the theory of probability, be expected from the test- 
ing of a homogeneous group of individuals. If the 
skews cannot be shown to be due to the metliod of 
scoring, or the method of testing, or the combining 
of the records of juvenile and adult epileptics, they 
must be ascribed to fundamental peculiarities or 
anomalies in the mental make-up of the epileptic. 
The epileptic is not only retarded, and thus some- 
what like other amented or demented individuals, 
but his mental mechanisms are so irregular, atypical 
or deviating ( shown particularly by the ability which 
he frequently manifests to pass tests in many higher 
age-levels) that he is apparently qualitatively differ- 
ent from his first cousin, the feeble-minded person. 
But the law of parsimony requires one to make every 
legitimate effort to explain the peculiarities in the 
epileptic curve by the lesser causes before ascribing 
them to inherent abnormalities in the epileptic mind, 
so that I shall begin my analysis by an examination 
of the method of testing and the method of scoring. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 21 

I tried, of course, in testing, to conform as closely 
as possible to the instructions laid down by the au- 
thors (Binet-Simon), and particularly to the syl- 
labus prepared by Goddard. Having worked in 
Goddard's laboratory, I was in a position to follow 
the methods in use in Vineland. In one rather im- 
portant detail, however, my testing differed from 
the Vineland procedure: I employed a wide-range 
method of testing; that is, instead of confining the 
testing of the patients to the ages immediately be- 
neath or above the ages in which they graded, I 
tested the majority throughout the greater part of 
the scale. This was done, not merely to arrive at a 
more complete clinical picture — to reveal the pecu- 
liar mental lapses, gaps and remnants, the presence 
of which may be assumed to characterize degenera- 
tive or involution changes — but in order to test the 
reliability of the scale itself. For the latter purpose 
nothing but a wide-range survey will suffice/ 

This method of testing gave rise to a rather serious 
complication in the matter of scoring, for it some- 
times happened that a subject might, say, pass all 
the ages up to and including Age V, fail on Ages VI, 
VII, VIII and IX, but pass Age X and also a few 
individual tests in the ages beyond X. It is evident 
that a record of this kind would admit of a two- or 
three-fold basis of scoring : we might use as the basis 
of scoring either Age V, plus advance credits from 
Ages VI to XII or XIII, or Age X, plus advance 
credits, or we might use the average of the ratings 
from these two methods. Age V would be regarded 
as the first or lowest age, beginning below, which was 

^Such a survey must be made, of course, primarily on large masses 
of normal children. 



22 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

successfully passed, and Age X as the last or highest 
age successfully passed.^ 

In case the basis of grading were the first or lowest 
age successfully passed, this process of wide-range 
testing would create marked discrepancies between 
the results of different investigators, because 
through the process of wide-range testing many pa- 
tients would be able to win advance credits from 
higher ages, and this would enable them to reach a 
higher classification. At the same time it would 
make it possible for abnormalities to appear in the 
curve which would be concealed by a narrow-range 
system of testing. As a matter of fact, scores of our 
low or medium grade epileptics passed one or more 
tests in five, six, or even seven higher age-levels, and 
scores won from ten to twenty (or even more) points 
in advance of the first or lowest age in the scale which 
they were able to pass completely. It follows, there- 
fore, that many who passed higher-age tests failed 
on lower-age tests. To show how extensively pa- 
tients who passed some of the higher-age standards 
failed on the collective standard fixed for some lower 
level, the subjects have been classified in Table II 
according to two bases of rating: A, the highest or 
last age passed completely, plus advance credits; 
and B, the average of the first or lowest and the 
highest or last ages passed, plus advance credits in 
each case. To illustrate what is meant by these two 
methods of grading, we will suppose that a given 
patient passes Age X, fails on Age VI, but passes 
Age V, and that he passes 5 tests in VI, 5 in VII, 4 
in VIII, 3 in IX, 3 in X, 2 in XI and 1 in XII. Ac- 

*An age is "successfully passed" when all ita testa or all hut one are 
correctly performed. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 23 

cording to Method A, the subject would be rated as 
having a mentality of 10.6 years (Age X plus 3 ad- 
vance points) ; and, according to Method B, as of 
10.1 years (10.6 + 9.6^-^2). 

TABLE II. 

Differences arising from Grading Patients "by two Methods: A, hasmg 
the Grading on the Last (or Highest) Age in the Scale success- 
fully passed, plus Advance Credits; and, B, on the Averages of 
ioth the First (or Lowest) and the Last (or Highest) Ages suc- 
cessfully passed, plus Advance Credits in each case. 

Entire 

Method. Age. Boys. Girls. Children. Men. Women. Adults, population. 

% % % % % % % 

A IX 8.9 7.0 8.1 8.7 8.3 8.5 8.4 

B IX 12.0 11.6 11.8 19.0 16.6 17.8 14.8 

D 

A 
B 

D 

A 
B 

D 

A 
B 

D 

A 
B 

D 0.0 4.4 4.7 4.5 2.7 

A and B as above. D=difference between A and B. Minus sign 
indicates a smaller per cent, in a given age in the A method. It indi- 
cates a loss instead of a gain. 

It is noteworthy that there are only 7 general 
averages which are identical, as against 21 which are 
different. Considering, first, the results for the en- 

^Age V4-23 advance points=9.6. 





—3.1 


—4.6 


—3.7 


—10.3 


—8.3 


—9.3 


—6.4 


X 
X 


23.8 
22.4 


18.6 
16.3 


21.8 
19.3 


23.4 
16.5 


29.6 
23.1 


26.5 
19.8 


24.9 
19.5 




1.4 


2.3 


1.5 


6.9 


6.5 


6.7 


5.4 


XI 
XI 


8.9 
7.4 


4.6 
2.3 


7.3 

4.8 


13.0 
13.0 


4.6 
4.6 


8.8 
8.8 


8.4 
6.8 




1.5 


2.3 


2.5 


ao 


0.0 


0.0 


1.6 


XII 
XII 


3.0 
3.0 


2.3 
2.3 


2.6 
2.6 


4.3 

5.2 


2.7 
4.6 


3.5 

4.9 


3.0 
3.7 




0.0 


0.0 


0.0 


— .9 


—1.9 


—1.4 


— .7 


XIII 
XIII 


3.0 
3.0 




1.8 


7.8 
3.4 


6.5 
1.8 


7.1 
2.6 


5.4 
2.7 



24 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

tire population (last column), it is seen that the 
differences for Ages XI and XII are small, 1.6 and 
.7%, respectively, while they are quite material for 
Ages IX, X and XIII, namely, 6.4, 5.4 and 2.7%, 
respectively. The result of basing the grading on 
the highest age passed, Method A, is to reduce con- 
siderably the number of IX-year-olds and slightly 
the number of Xll-year-olds, and to increase the X-, 
XI- and Xlll-year-olds, particularly the first and 
the last. (No one was credited with Age XIII who 
did not pass two of the tests in that age — drawing 
one of the diamonds was accepted as satisfactory — 
or who, passing Age XIII, did not pass five of the 
nine tests in Ages XI and XII. On this basis, 10 
who passed Age XIII were rated as of Age XIII, 
while 12 failed. Five who failed in Age XI passed 
Age XII. A few passed X and XIII, but failed on 
XI and XII.) Below the ninth year the distribution 
remained the same except in three ages — Ages V 
and VI for girls (a difference of 2.4% in each age), 
and Age VIII for women (a difference of .9%). In 
respect to the gross grouping, the per cents, of idiots, 
imbeciles and child morons remain the same, but 
there is a diminution of adult male (4.37%) and 
female (4.6%) morons, and a corresponding increase 
of Xlll-year-old adults. 

In comparing the results for the children and 
adults it is seen that more adults than children ad- 
vance from Age IX to X and from XII to XIII by 
the A-method. Incidentally, it may be remarked that 
the differences in general are greater for the adults, 
which would seem to indicate a greater loss of lower- 
age capacities as a result of epileptic degeneration. 
Among the children there is no difference in Ages 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 25 

XII and XIII. The girls, however, profited more 
than the boys, losing more in IX and gaining more 
in X and XI — an indirect indication of the intel- 
lectual superiority of the boys (to which we shall 
revert later), since a larger percentage of boys were 
able to pass the harder tests. The difference be- 
tween the men and women, on the other hand, is 
insignificant. 

A detailed examination was made of the individ- 
ual records of the children (used in the sense of all 
under 21 years of age), in order to determine the 
amount of the disturbance. It was quite consider- 
able in one-third of the 103 cases studied. The grad- 
ing of 70, or 68% of the 103, dropped into a lower 
age classification when the B-method was used — 
sometimes, of course, because of a difference of only 
one or two points. But in some cases the grading 
by the B-method was actually higher. This is due 
to the fact that some ages contain more than five 
tests, namely, ages VI, VII, VIII and IX. This ex- 
plains in a measure why the grading remained prac- 
tically the same in the two methods for the middle 
ages. Patients who failed to pass Age VI — and all 
Vl-year-olds did, as we shall see — but passed Age 
VII, could secure a higher rating from Age V than 
from Age VII. Finally, the rating remained in the 
same age classification with the two methods in the 
case of 32% of the patients. 

With 14, or 13%, of these subjects the difference 
amounted to a whole year (that is, five points) or 
more, namely: one year for three patients, 1.2^ for 
three, 1.4 for two, 1.6 for one, 2.0 for one, 2.2 for 
two, and 2.4 for one. 

*One point=r.2. 



26 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

The range of the possible difference of rating, due 
to a difference in the method of computing credits, 
will be seen to better advantage if we compare our 
first method, A, with a third method, C. Instead of 
using the average of the rating from the highest and 
lowest ages passed, as in B, let us use only the lowest 
age passed as the base, with advance credits as be- 
fore. The difference in points thus amounts to one 
year or more in the case of 41, or 39% of the children, 
as follows: 

Difference in years 1. 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2. 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.2 

Number of patients. . .12 6361251221 

The difference thus amounts to two full years or 
more in the case of thirteen patients — truly a signifi- 
cant difference. But, large as these discrepancies 
are, the question may still be raised why they are not 
yet more extreme, since some patients who fail to 
pass a lower level may pass sundry tests in a half- 
dozen or more higher ages, and all the tests in some 
one age (e. g., Age X) three or four years higher 
than the lowest age satisfactorily passed. The an- 
swer is to be sought in the corrective formula (one 
year of advance credit for five advance points), by 
virtue of which subjects may gain several years from 
the lowest age passed. Consequently the difference 
between the A-method and the C-method of scoring, 
and particularly between the A-method and the B- 
method, are oftentimes quite negligible. 

Since the difference in the mental station or classi- 
fication of epileptics may amount to two or three 
years, due entirely to the particular method of grad- 
ing adopted, it is evident that the results of different 
workers have no comparative value unless precisely 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 27 

the same system is followed. Accordingly, I adhered 
to the plan prescribed by the authors (Binet-Simon), 
which is followed by the workers in this country, 
according to which the subjects are credited with the 
highest age passed successfully (all the tests or all 
but one), plus advance credits (one year for five 
points) : in other words, I followed what I have 
termed Method A of scoring. 

Our survey of the facts up to this point justifies 
the following conclusions : 

(1) A difference in the method of grading may 
perceptibly alter the distribution of homogenous 
groups of patients, particularly in Ages VI, IX, X 
and XIII, and in the moron and retardate groups, 
and may thus vitiate results for comparative pur- 
poses. 

(2) This difference in rating may vary from con- 
siderably less than one year to more than two years. 

(3) The obvious effect of the standard method of 
rating. A, is to elevate the grading (except in a few 
of the middle ages) : epileptics failing at lower levels 
often pass higher ages. 

(4) The B.-S. Age IX is more difficult than Age 
X, and apparently Age XII than Age XIII, for epi- 
leptics. 

(5) Although it is advisable to follow the Binet- 
Simon method of accrediting (adding advance points 
to the highest age passed), it is obvious that when 
very large percentages of homogenous groups fail 
at certain lower levels while passing a higher level 
we have strong presumptive evidence that we are 
dealing either with special, aberrant or deviating 
groups of individuals, or with an unsatisfactory con- 
struction or arrangement of the tests. A variation 



28 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

of two years and more must point to inherent defects 
in the scale, or fundamental abnormalities or depart- 
ures in the mental organization of the subjects 
tested, 

(6) Finally, so far as concerns our fundamental 
query, it is possible that both the wide-range method 
of testing and the method of grading may partly 
account for our skewed epileptic curve. For exam- 
ple, the A-method of scoring decreased the per cent, 
of IX-year-olds about 6.5% and increased the num- 
ber of X- (particularly) and the number of XIII- 
year-olds, as may be seen from Table II. Likewise, 
it is seen from Table III that, while 90% of those 
grading IX passed this standard by virtue of ad- 
vance credits, 94% of those who grade X passed the 
tests of that age. Accordingly, the skew in the curve 
at X — and this is the most obvious skew — is inde- 
pendent of the method of scoring. So far as con- 
cerns our present purpose, the method of scoring 
may, therefore, probably be neglected, more particu- 
larly because it has conformed with the prevailing 
usage, thus rendering the results comparable with 
the findings of other investigators. Consequently 
it will be necessary to study more closely the wide- 
range method of testing. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 



29 



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30 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

The importance of this factor may be seen by re- 
ferring to Table III, which shows that in not more 
than five ages (III, IV, X, XII, XIII) did more than 
60% of the patients successfully pass the ages in 
which they classify. The ages which make the worst 
showing are VI, VII and IX, particularly VI and IX, 
which proved veritable pontes asinorum. It follows 
that the age classification of the majority of the epi- 
leptics was attained on the basis of advance points. 
Very few, except in Age X, passed all but one of the 
tests of the mental age assigned them. It is therefore 
apparent that any B.-S. testing which is confined to 
the subject's chronological age or to the age immedi- 
ately above or below is of questionable value, if not 
worthless, and is positively pernicious to the inter- 
ests of scientific research either for purposes of 
diagnosis or classification or the testing of the scale. 

To what extent, then, is the wide-range testing 
responsible for our peculiar curve of distribution? 
Owing to the present inaccessibility of the original 
records, I cannot answer this question in exact 
numerical terms. But the two following considera- 
tions would seem to indicate that the method of test- 
ing is of secondary consequence. 

First, it is probable that other examiners (particu- 
larly the Vineland workers, with whose results our 
curve has been contrasted) have made a practice of 
testing the mentality of the examinees at least tivo 
years above the station in which they grade (since 
the basis of rating has been uniformly the highest 
age passed, the testing of lower ages can be entirely 
ignored). In case this is granted — other writers 
have been silent on this point — the fundamental 
question reduces merely to one of the relative 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 31 

amount of the advance credits given — tlie difference 
in the number of credits which may be gained by 
testing only two years above the age fully passed or 
by testing in a considerable number of ages. While 
we have found numerous epileptics whose capacities 
have ranged throughout the larger part of the scale, 
the successes higher up have usually been sporadic 
and exceptional, so that it is entirely probable that 
the great majority of the advance credits given the 
epileptics have come from the two adjacent higher 
ages. If this is so, the peculiarities in the curve can- 
not be due primarily to the wide-range testing. 

Second, while the system of advance crediting 
from a wide-range testing effectually conceals the 
skew which should have appeared in the curve at 
Age VI, it is only very slightly responsible for the 
skew at Age X, because 94% of those who grade X 
pass the standard for this age, while 84% of them 
fail on the IX-year tests. Not only so; an examina- 
tion of the feeble-minded classification shows that 
the most obvious break occurs in the ninth standard. 

It is thus apparent that if further analysis reveals 
other significant factors, as implied in the foregoing 
statements, the methods of scoring and wide-range 
testing must be given a subordinate place. There 
are three methods which we may employ for a fur- 
ther critical examination of the data : 



Percentage of Epileptic Children Passing Each Individual Pitiet-Simon Teat, trrespectivc of the Age in tchiclt 
the Children nre Classified 

B.-S. , Boys V , Girls . 

Test. No. % Range. No. % Ilange. 

I. 1 11 100 7 85 







,-Aves. 


. Each Age.—, 


-Both Seies-v 






Both 


Avt. 


Ave. 


Boys. 


Gills. Sexes. 


No. % 


Range. 


% 


% % 



60 


91 


58 


42 


97 


33 


102 


94 


23 


69 




18 


83 




41 


75 


23 


CI 




19 


68 




42 


«!<; 


29 


83 




2S 


71 




57 


77 


20 


75 


IS 


19 


68 


15 


39 


71 


2.1 


04 




25 


68 




.50 


(^i 


21 


62 




24 


70 




45 


66 


.'52 


60 




37 


r.i 




89 


.56 


43 


8.S 


28 


35 


91 


40 


78 


s:i 


2i; 


6.5 




30 


70 




.56 


67 


43 


14 




38 


10 




81 


10 


27 


60 




31 


58 




.5.H 


.59 


47 


79 




36 


63 




S3 


72 


27 


.-!(; 




29 


51 




.56 


43 


.-)4 


44 




.3.S 


36 




92 


41 


30 


60 


0.5 


32 


68 


60 


62 


64 


.30 


61 




35 


77 




74 


68 


3G 


7.5 




:!0 


66 




66 


71 


28 


tlS 




28 


71 




56 


69 


4.5 


66 




34 


44 




79 


57 


47 


42 




40 


42 




87 


42 



VIII, 


35 


47 


7J 




3B 


47 


61 i 




37 


51 


57 




38 


39 


51 




39 


45 


51 




40 


38 


73 


IX. 


41 


47 


64 




42 


45 


82 




43 


44 


43 




44 


45 


17 




45 


47 


34 



XI. 


51 


33 




52 


33 




53 


39 




54 


33 
29 


XII. 


56 


31 




57 


M 




.58 


33 




59 


30 


XIII 


. 60 


29 




61 


29 



34 


14 


73 


36 


21 




52 


30 


33 




54 


40 


V.i 




65 


13 


23 




.50 


16 



Ave 39 38 37 

B.-R. Test ; the tests are niiinlwred consecutively, following the customary order (See Form I of the 
Skillman blanks). 

No.=i:aimber tested. %=l>er cent, of successes. R.ince^difference between the highest and lowest per 
cents, in eath age. Aves. for each age represent the sum of all the tests in each age, divided by the iiuuiher 
of tests. 

The above includes all the epileptic chiMieu except nine. It includes four boys who had been free from 
attacks for over two years. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 33 

(1) We may determine the percentage of suc- 
cesses (passing) for each individual test of the entire 
scale for a given group of examinees, irrespective 
of the ages in which the examinees classify. Such a 
tabulation for all the epileptic children (all under 
21) appears in Table IV. The records for the adults 
are not now available, but the curves for the children 
and the adults, in spite of various interesting differ- 
ences, have the same general characteristics (Table 
I). As will be seen from Columns 2 and 5, Table IV, 
the number of children put through each test differs 
considerably, but the percentages of successes are in 
all cases based upon the number examined for the 
given test. 

(2) We may determine the per cent, of successes 
in each individual test, based only on the records of 
those subjects who classify in the age to which the 
test has been assigned. That is to say, we determine 
what percentage of patients who grade VI pass each 
one of the Vl-year tests, what per cent, of the VII- 
year-olds pass each of the eight tests of that age, etc. 
With this object in view, the data for the children 
have been retabulated in Table V. If the tests in 
each age are relatively equi-difficult, the successes 
should be approximately equal for the different tests 
of the same age. This method could be extended so 
as to include a determination of the per cent, of suc- 
cesses for each test in both loiver and higher ages. 
What per cent, of subjects who grade V, VI or VII 
pass each of the tests in Age III or IV? 



35... 
36... 
37... 
38... 
39... 
40... 
Ave. 



33 


71 


66 


26 


66 


85 


66 


85 


LOO 


100 



34 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

TABLE V. 

Percentages of Children Passinc; the Individual Tests in the Binet-Simon 

Ages in which they are Graded. 

AGES I AND II. Both AGE III. Both 

, — Boys — ^ , — Girls — , Sexes. , — Boys — s , — Girls — ^ Sexes. 

Test. No. % M.V.No. % M.V. % M.V. Test. No. % M.V.No. % M.V. % M.V. 

1.... 7 100 2 100 100 7.... 4 100 

2.... 100 100 100 8.... 00 

3.... 83 50 75 9.... 100 

4.... 43 50 58 10.... 100 

5.... 28 00 22 11.... 100 

6 28 50 33 

Ave..' 63 .30 58 .27 64 .27 Ave.. 80 .32 66 .13 73 .20 

AGE IV. AGE V. 

12.... 5 100 4 100 100 16.... 1 100 2 50 66 

13.... 100 75 88 17.... 00 100 66 

14.... 60 75 66 18.... 00 50 33 

15.... 80 25 55 19.... 100 50 66 

Ave.. 85 .15 68 .22 77 .17 Ave.. 50 .50 62 .17 58 .12 

AGE VI. AGE VII. 

20.... 4 50 6 66 60 27.... 5 80 6 100 90 

21.... 00 00 00 28.... 60 100 82 

22.... 75 50 60 29.... 100 100 100 

23.... 50 50 50 30.... 40 33 36 

24.... 25 66 50 31.... 40 16 27 

25.... 25 5 00 10 32.... 60 33 45 

26.... 75 66 70 33.... 80 100 90 

34.... 80 66 72 

Ave.. 42 .16 42 .12 42 .13 Ave.. 67 .17 68 .31 67 .24 



AGE VIIL AGE IX. 

66 6 66 66 41 6 100 3 66 88 

55 50 53 42.... 100 100 100 

44 100 66 43.... 50 33 44 

55 33 46 44.... 16 00 11 

11 66 33 45.... 33 2 00 22 

77 66 73 46.... 33 66 44 

51 .16 63 .14 56 .12 Ave.. 55 .29 44 .33 51 .28 



AGE X. AGE XI. 

47.... 16 93 8 87 88 51.... 6 50 2 50 50 

48.... 100 75 91 52.... 66 100 75 

49.... 87 75 83 53.... 33 50 37 

50.... 68 87 75 54.... 33 50 37 

55.... 33 00 25 

Ave.. 87 .09 81 .06 84 .05 Ave.. 43 .12 50 .20 45 .14 

AGE XII. AGE XIII. 

56.... 2 50 1 100 66 60.... 100 

57.... 50 100 66 '61.... 100 

58 50 00 33 62.... 50 

59 50 100 66 

Ave.. 50 .00 75 .37 58 .12 Ave.. 83 .22 

Test=number of individual B.-S. test. No.=numl)er of patients examined. 
M. V.=mean variation (between the different subjects' scores based on the 
figures given in the per cent, columns). 

Average M. V."s for all ages, except XIII: boys, .20; girls, .21; both 
sexes, .17. 

Average per cents, for all ages, except XIII : boys, .61 ; girls, .61. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 35 

(3) We may determine what percentage of pa- 
tients classifying in a given higher age, say VIII, 
IX or X, fail to pass any of the loiver age-norms (not 
individual tests, but the age standards) . For exam- 
ple, how many X-year-oIds do not pass Age VI? This 
throws light on the collective difficulty of the tests 
of various ages. For this study we have two sets of 
data, one incomplete and the other complete. The 
incomplete data for 276 juvenile and adult epileptics. 
Table III, were originally gathered for another pur- 
pose, namely, the determination of the per cent, of 
patients who passed ages immediately adjacent to 
that in which they classified. No record was made 
of the ages in which they did not pass any tests at 
all ; however, for some of the patients the data cover 
more than the years contemplated. This explains 
why the per cents, in some cases are based on many 
subjects, but in other cases on only a few. More- 
over, data based on only a few cases have not always 
been tabulated. In the absence of the original rec- 
ords, these defects cannot now be remedied. But, in 
spite of these defects, a comparison of the ages in 
Tables VI and III, which are comparable, indicates 
that the data are sufficiently reliable for our pur- 
pose. In Table VI we have in complete form for the 
entire population of the institution the percentage 
of patients between the B.-S. Ages of IX and XIII 
who pass Age IX and the per cent, of those between 
Ages VI and X who pass Age VI. 

What, now, does a critical examination of our 
tables reveal ? 



36 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

TABLE VI. 

Percentage of Epileptics Grading from IX to XIII who pass the B.-S. 
Standard for Age IX. 

Entire 

Both Popu- 

B.-S. Boys. Girls. Sexes. Men. Women. Adults. Males. Females, lation. 

Age. No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % 

IX 6 16 3 33 9 22 10 10 9 00 19 05 16 12 12 08 28 10 



X 16 37 


8 00 24 


25 27 15 32 12 59 


13 


43 


23 40 


10 


83 


16 


XI 6 82 


2 00 8 


62 15 20 5 00 20 


15 


21 


38 7 


00 


28 


28 


XII 2 100 


1 lOO 3 


100 5 60 3 66 8 


62 


7 


71 4 


75 


11 


72 


XIII 2 100 




50 9 66 7 85 16 


75 


11 


72 7 


85 


18 


78 


Ave. 67 


33 


51 34 32 


34 




43 


231 




40 


percentage o 


f Epileptics Grading from VI to X who 

fnr Anp. VT 


pass the B. 


-S. I 


Srtan 


idar 


VI 4 00 


6 00 10 


00 7 00 5 00 12 


00 


11 


00 11 


00 


22 


00 


VII 5 00 


6 33 11 


18 9 00 12 00 21 


00 


14 


00 18 


11 


32 


06 


VIII 9 44 


6 33 15 


40 20 10 20 25 40 


17 


29 


20 26 


26 


55 


27 


IX 5 60 


3 66 8 


62 10 70 9 44 19 


58 


15 


66 12 


38 


27 


50 


X 14 78 


8 87 22 


81 23 65 31 48 54 


55 


37 


70 39 


56 


76 


63 


Ave. 36 


43 


40 29 23 


26 




31 


26 




29 



Age, the age in which the patients grade. No., number of patients in- 
cluded in the average (including those who pass and fail). %, per cent. 
passing. This includes all who did not fail in more than one test in each 
age. 

^Exclusive of 85% in Age XIII. 

In Table IV we find a surprisingly large variation 
in the difficulty of the individual tests, both for the 
boys and the girls, ranging from 100% (first test, 
Age I, boys) to 0% of successes. Since this variation 
is between tests occurring in any part of the scale, it 
is significant only because of its extreme character, 
for a large variation will inevitably occur when sub- 
jects of very varying capacities are tested through- 
out a large part of a graded scale and the results are 
thrown together. The more stupid will necessarily 
fail on all the higher tests, and the brighter will suc- 
ceed on all the lower ones. Hence, all that could be 
demanded, at the utmost, is that the lower-grade 
subjects find the high-grade tests in the same ages 
about equally difficult, and the high-grade subjects 
the tests in the same lower ages about equally easy. 
Accordingly, we are justified in comparing only the 
tests of the same ages. Assuming that these are 
fairly uniform in difficulty, the percentage of fail- 



TESTING THE BINBT-SIMON TESTS 37 

Tires should be approximately the same for all the 
tests of the same age. 

It is patent from a cursory glance at Table IV, 
however, that there is a wide difference between the 
tests. This is seen most rapidly by comparing the 
''range" columns. The range between the highest 
and lowest per cent, of successes in each age aver- 
ages 37% for the thirteen years. The general aver- 
ages are practically the same for the boys and the 
girls, although there are striking differences for 
some of the ages. The largest range is between the 
tests of Age VI, 62% ; XII, 57%, and IX, 56% ; and 
the smallest between Ages IV, 11% ; VIII, 21%o, and 

I, 24%. The order differs somewhat, however, for 
the boys and the girls, the largest range for the boys 
being in Ages VI, IX and XII, and for the girls in 

II, VI and XII, in the order given. The smallest are 
in Ages IV, I and VIII for the boys, and X, IV and 
XIII for the girls. 

If we now regard the collective (average) difficulty 
of tests of the same ages, we again find a very con- 
siderable variation. The most difficult ages are 
XIII (14% of successes), XII (21%), XI (22%) and 
IX (37%), and the easiest I (82%), III (76%), IV 
(72%) and V (69%). The order is the same for the 
boys and girls considered separately, except that II 
displaces IX for the boys in the difficult set, and III 
and IV exchange places in the easy series. The aver- 
ages for the boys and girls are not appreciably dif- 
ferent, except in Ages I, III, VIII, IX and X. 

It is evident, however, from what has been said 
that averaging the per cent, of successes by ages in 
this fashion (last three columns of Table IV) is val- 
uable chiefly for purposes of comparing the relative 



38 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

efficiencies of the sexes in the same ages, and not 
primarily for the purpose of comparing the diffi- 
culty of the various ages. The method is faulty for 
the latter purpose, particularly as affects the ex- 
treme ages in the scale, because, since the patients 
were tested throughout a large extent of the scale, 
some comparatively high-grade subjects were tested 
on the lower tests, while, vice versa, some low-grade 
subjects were tested in the higher ages. The tend- 
ency, therefore, is to decrease the real difficulty of 
the lower ages and to increase that of the upper 
ages. This, indeed, the results show. If, therefore, 
we confine the comparison to the middle range of the 
scale, V to IX, inclusive, where these tendencies may 
neutralize one another, we find that Ages IX and VI 
are the most difficult, followed hy VIII, VII and V 
(decreasing order). This conforms substantially 
with the data in Tables V and VII, to which we now 
turn. 

The latter enable us to make a more reliable com- 
parison between the difficulties of the different tests 
of the same age, and indirectly between the relative 
collective difficidty of the different ages, for here, as 
explained, the per cents, of successes for a given test 
are based on the testing of those subjects only who 
classify in the age in winch the test has been placed. 

The variation between the different tests of the 
same age appears most readily from an examination 
of the M. V. and "range" columns. The average 
M. V. for all ages amounts to .17, a very considerable 
fraction of the size of the average per cents. (.61). It 
is practically the same for the boys and the girls, 
although there is considerable difference in a few of 
the ages. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 39 

TABLE VII. 

Ranges 'between the Highest and the Lowest per cents, of successes 
recorded for the tests of each Age in Table V. 

Ages I & II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. 

Boys 72 100 40 100 72 60 66 84 32 33 00 50 

Girls 100 67 72 50 66 84 67 100 12 100 100 

Children . 78 74 45 33 70 73 40 89 16 50 33 

The general averages for all Ages, except XIII, are as follows : 
boys, 60% ; girls, 74% ; both sexes, 54%. 

The M. V. amounts to more than .25 in seven cases : 
Ages I-II, boys and girls; III, boys; VII, girls; IX, 
boys and girls; and XII, girls (exclusive of Age V, 
boys). The ranges (Table VII) are also very large 
for these ages, the seven largest ranges being in 
Ages I-II, boys ; III, boys ; VII, girls ; IX, boys and 
girls; XI, girls; and XII, girls. • Five of these 
amount to 1.00 and two to .84. The average of the 
ranges for the years I to XII, inclusive, reaches the 
very considerable sum of .54. It is somewhat larger 
for the girls than the boys. 

On the other hand, considering the minimal varia- 
tions, we find the M. V, to be less than .17 in the fol- 
lowing ages : III, girls ; IV, boys ; VI, boys and girls ; 
VIII, boys and girls; X, boys and girls; XII, boys. 
In some of these ages we also find, correspondingly, 
the smallest ranges, namely. Ages IV, boys ; X, boys 
and girls; XI, boys; XII, boys and girls. The 
smallest range comes in Age X. 

If we consider only the general averages (the av- 
erages for the two sexes), the largest M. V.'s (from 
.20 to .28) are in the following ages: I-II, III, VII 
and IX, and the largest ranges in Ages I-II, III, VII 
and IX. The smallest M. V.'s (from .14 to .05) are 
in the following ages : V, A^E, VHI, X, XI and XII, 



40 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

and the smallest ranges in the following: V, VIII, 
X and XII. 

Summarizing these results, it appears that, if we 
exclude Ages I-II as representing tivo years rather 
than one, the greatest variation occurs between the 
tests of Ages III, VII, and particularly IX, and that 
the greatest uniformity obtains in VIII, X (dis- 
tinctly), XI and XII (less decidedly in IV and VI). 

The question now naturally arises whether the 
collective difficulty (average per cent, of successes 
for all the tests of a given age) is greatest for the 
most variable age-norms. Reference may be made 
to three tables to obtain light on this question. On 
the basis of the average per cents, in Table V, there 
appears to be no correlation. The group average for 
Ages III, VII and IX is .64 (.66 for boys and .59 for 
girls), and for Ages X, XI, XII, IV and VI .61 (prac- 
tically the same for the boys and the girls). The per 
cents, in Table V, however, do not represent the 
number of patients who passed the age-norms, as in 
Table III. In the latter table the successes (32%) 
for the group of variable age-norms are appreciably 
less than for the group with more uniform tests 
(49%). It is noteworthy that the successes are above 
63% in three ages (IV, X and XII) where the varia- 
tion is small, and in only one age where the variation 
is large (Age III), and that the successes are sur- 
prisingly small in the remaining two ages having 
unequal tests (VII and IX. Cf. also Table VI). In 
the case of Age VI, however, the variation is small, 
although this is a very difficult age (Tables III and 
VI). 

It is therefore apparent that there is a greater 
variation between the tests of a difficult than an easy 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 41 

age-standard, although this need not always be so. 
If the tests of a given age are uniformly difficult, the 
variation will be small, and the same is true, of 
course, if they are uniformly easy. But they are 
more liable to be uniformly easy than uniformly 
difficult. 

The most striking result which our analysis of the 
M. V.'s and ranges for the ages has thus far shown 
is the amazing lack of uniformity between the diffi- 
culty of the tests of the same age-norms for fully 
half of the ages of the scale — amazing from the 
standpoint of the precision demanded by the stand- 
ards of scientific work. Moreover, we have also seen 
that the collective difficulty of different age-stand- 
ards differs — to how great an extent may be seen by 
a re-examination of Tables III and VI. The per 
cents, of passing range from .00 to 100%. (The lat- 
ter may be ignored, as it is for the final age in the 
scale, and all who passed this standard could only 
do so by virtue of the tests of this standard itself). 
The successes exceed 70% in only four ages (III, IV, 
X and Xin), and reach less than 42% in six ages 
(V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and XI). The most difficult 
age-norms are VI (00% of passing), IX (10%) and 
VII (13%); and the easiest III (.73%), X (84%), 
XII (58%), and XIII (100%). The last age may be 
neglected for the reason given, and III and XII be- 
cause of the fewness of the subject tested in these 
ages. We thus obtain for epileptics one specially 
easy age-standard, X, and several specially difficult 
age-standards. In order to study more thoroughly 
the two most difficult ages, VI and IX, the data for 
the juvenile and adult epileptics were retabulated as 
appears in Table VI (which see). 



42 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

With this surprisingly wide range in the difficulty 
of the Binet-Simon age-norms demonstrated, we are 
forced to meet a fundamental question, namely : In 
order that a measuring scale of intelligence shall 
approximate the character of scientific measures, 
what amount of variation in the difficulty of the tests 
of the same age shall he considered as the maximal 
permissible? What percentage of normal children 
should pass the tests designated as criteria of their 
chronological ages in order that the tests shall con- 
stitute scientific standards for these ages? It is evi- 
dent that if only a small per cent, of typical children 
pass the standard tests the latter are worthless. It 
is equally evident that 100% of passing is also out 
of the question, because normal children will differ 
considerably in various traits and capacities, some 
being strong in one trait and some strong in another. 
We may thus regard as perfectly normal a certain 
amount of variation in the capacities of children of 
the same ages and training. Moreover, mental meas- 
urements are variables, and not absolute constants. 
Consequently the standards of each age must consist 
of a number of tests, sufficiently comprehensive to 
survey a variety of fundamental mental traits and 
capacities. And the difficulty of these tests (and the 
scoring) must be so adjusted that, while one test 
may be too hard for one child and another too easy, 
the majority of children should be able to pass the 
collective standard, i. e., their age-norm. To be more 
specific, I should hold that if 75% of normal (so- 
called) children fail to pass their age-norms, the 
norms are too difficult. Some of the tests must be 
transposed or eliminated. 

On the basis of this standard, it appears that only 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 43 

two age-norms are properly constructed, so far as 
the testing of the epileptics is concerned, namely, 
III and X (Age IV falls short by 4%). Half of the 
ages do not even approximately satisfy the require- 
ments. In fact, we may lay down this rule: that 
epileptics do not qualify for a given age on the basis 
of satisfying the requirements of that age, hut on the 
basis of the system of advance credits from higher 
ages. 

' To what, then, are the demonstrably large varia- 
tions in the difficulty of the various Binet- Simon age- 
norms due I Are they due primarily to inherent de- 
fects in, and misplacements of, the tests themselves — 
defective horizontal and vertical arrangement — or 
to fundamental deviations or abnormalities in the 
epileptic mind? To answer this question satisfac- 
torily we must still ascertain what particular tests 
produced the greatest 'mortality ' — ^were too difficult — 
and what particular tests were too easy. More than 
that, we must determine whether the tests found too 
difficult or too easy for epileptics have likewise been 
found too difficult or too easy for normal children 
or normal adults. 

A comparison of Tables IV and V (omitting Ages 
I, II and XIII, on account of the insufficiency of the 
data) indicates that the following tests were dis- 
tinctly too difficult for epileptics : 

Age V, arranging triangular pieces into a rec- 
tangle;^ VI, repeating 16 syllables,^ executing three 
commissions, and knowledge of own age; VII, re- 
peating five numbers, drawing a diamond, and de- 

*The success for this test is high in Table IV, because it was given 
to an unusually large number of high-grade subjects. 

"Namely : "We get up in the morning, eat, work and play, and then 
go to bed." (Variant forms infrequently employed.) 



44 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

scribing actions ; VIII, counting backward and copy- 
ing from dictation ; IX, descriptive or classificatory 
definition, six memories, giving correct change 
(25c. — 9, or 8 or 7c.), and arranging six weights ; XI, 
arranging shuflfled words into a sentence, essential 
ideas in abstract definitions, and uttering 60 words ; 
XII, repeating 26 syllables,^ and inferring facts from 
given circumstances ; and XIII, all tests. In all ex- 
cept one of the above tests the per cent, of successes 
is less than 50 ; in most of them decidedly less. The 
failures for the higher ages are not brought out 
properly in the tables because of the form of the tab- 
ulation and because of the fewness of the subjects 
tested. 

While the tables are not so constructed as to indi- 
cate which tests are too easy (passed in lower ages), 
I came to feel that the following should probably be 
so regarded : Age V, counting 4 pennies ; VII, num- 
ber of fingers on hands, and counting 13 pennies ; IX, 
naming days of week in order ; X, naming moneys ; 
and XII, giving rhymes. 

Since the above was written, the results of Kath- 
erine Johnston's,- Goddard's^ and Bobertag's* test- 
ing of public-school children have, opportunely, ap- 

^Namely : "The other day I saw in the street a pretty dog who car- 
ried in his mouth a basket of strawberries." (No variants used.) 

^Katherine L. Johnston, M. Binet's Method for the Measurement of 
Intelligence. — Some Results, The Journal of Experimental Pedagogy, 
1: 1911, 24fif. 

"Henry Herbert Goddard, Two Thousand Normal Children Meas- 
ured by the Binet Measuring Scale of Intelligence, Pedagogical Semi- 
nary, 18 : 1911, p. 232f. 

*Otto Bobertag, Ueber Intelligenzpriifungen (nach der Methode von 
Binet und Simon), Zeitsch. fiir angewandte Psychologie, 5: 1911, 105fi£. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 45 

peared. These, with other results already available,* 
will better enable us to explain the inequalities which 
we have found in the scale. 

Miss Johnston tested a mixed group of 193 ele- 
mentary, and 25 high- school girls in Sheffield, Eng- 
land; Goddard's assistants tested the entire school 
population (1547) of the first six grades of a New 
Jersey school system, and Bobertag tested 435 regu- 
lar and special pupils in the schools of Breslau. The 
former followed essentially Binet's latest (1911) 
revision, while Goddard, Bobertag (with certain ex- 
ceptions) and I followed the 1908 series. 

All three of these studies confirm some of my sus- 
picions with respect to the accuracy of the scale. 
Johnston refers to one girl who did 15 and another 
23 tests superior to the age in which she classified, 
but she does not give averages, nor any intimation 
as to how frequently this happened. It is, as we 
have seen, a frequent phenomenon among epilep- 
tics. We need to know to what extent it appears 
with normals before we can generalize unequivocally 
about abnormals. She, too, found pupils who, unable 
to satisfy an inferior age standard, passed higher 

^The following studies or discussions have appeared too late to re- 
ceive notice in the present discussion : 

J. C. Bell. Recent Literature on the Binet Tests, The Journal of 
Educational Psychology, 3 : 1912, lOlfif. 

Lewis M. Terman and H. G. Childs. A Tentative Revision and 
Extension of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence, The 
Journal of Ednicaiional Psychology, 3 : 1912, 61ff, 133£e, 198ff. 

Edmund B. Huey. The Present Status of the Binet Scale of Tests 
for the Measurement of Intelligence, Psychological Bulletin, 9 : 1912, 
160 (a review of the literature). 

F. Kuhlmann. The Present Status of the Binet and Simon Testa 
of the Intelligence of Children, Journal of Psycho-Asthenics, 16 : 1912, 
No. 3. 

An abridged discussion of the relevancy of the scale will be found in : 
J. E. Wallace Wallin. The Present Status of the Binet-Simon Graded 
Tests of Intelligence, The Alienist and Neurologist, 33 : 1912, May. 



46 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

ones, but no figures are given to show how frequently 
this happened. She also found obvious inequalities 
in the difficulty of the age-norms. Her records show 
that of 30 9-year-old girls only one satisfied the IX- 
year norm, as against 24 who failed and 5 who 
passed Age X. Of 41 7-year-olds, 6 passed their 
standard, as against 26 who failed and 9 who passed 
Age VIII. Of 22 8-year-olds, 7 passed, 15 failed and 
6 ''went above" VIII. Of 38 10-year-olds, 12 passed 
and 26 failed. Of 24 12-year-olds, 5 pased, 18 failed 
and one passed Age XV. These figures indicate 
that there is a wide divergence in the difficulty of the 
tests of the same age, and that, with normal {sic) 
English girls, the standards are too difficult, as a 
rule: there are more who fail than reach their age- 
norms. The most difficult age-norm, according to 
Miss Jolmston, was Age IX. These conclusions, it 
must be remembered, refer to the latest, or 1911, ar- 
rangement of the B.-S. tests. 

An examination of Goddard's table (Table I) 
shows that there were more 6-year-olds who could 
satisfy the VII- than the Vl-year norms (69 against 
48) ; that a larger number of 8-year-olds stayed in 
Age VII than passed Age VIII (87 vs. 86) ; that 
very few of the 8-year-olds were able to satisfy the 
IX-year tests (only 16, as against 86 for the VIII- 
year norms), but there were actually more 9-year- 
olds who could pass the X- than the IX-year norms 
(58 compared with 56) ; that an unusually large 
number of 10-year-olds qualified for their standard, 
while an appreciably smaller percentage of 11-year- 
olds qualified for the Xl-year standard; and that 
more 12-year-olds classified as X than as XII (42 
vs. 39). The results of both of these studies of pub- 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 47 

lie school children (Bobertag gives results only for 
the individual tests) accordingly confirm my find- 
ings, based only on the results of those epileptics 
who grade in the various Binet-Simon ages consid- 
ered, particularly in respect to the disproportionate 
difficulty of Ages VI and IX and the dispropor- 
tionate ease of Age X (Miss Johnston's data, it 
should be said, to avert misapprehension, are based 
on too few cases for Age VI). It is obvious that we 
must conclude that there is a faulty vertical arrange- 
ment of the tests in the scale as at present consti- 
tuted. 

No only so : our findings in respect to the individ- 
ual tests are also confirmed, at least in part, as shown 
in Table VIII for the tests which I came to view with 
most suspicion. In this table the conclusions of 
Decroly and Degand, Binet's 1911 revision, and 
Johnston's, Goddard's, Bobertag 's and my own find- 
ings are compared. The Skillman figures are based 
on Table V. Table VIII may thus advantageously 
be studied with respect to our fundamental inquiry : 
Does the testing of normal (so-called) children show 
that our anomalous results are due to defects in the 
construction of the scale or to the peculiar mental 
organization of the epileptic? 

A study of Table VIII shows, in harmony with our 
findings, that the folloiving tests (with certain obvi- 
ous discrepancies) are too difficult: Age V: rear- 
ranging triangles, by G. (Goddard) and Bo. (Bober- 
tag). B. (Binet) retains the test, however, in Age V. 
VE: repeating 16 syllables, by G. (15% of successes). 
B. omits the test. VII : repetition of five numbers, 
by J. (Johnston) and B., who elevates the test to Age 
VIII, as does G., though his own per cent, of sue- 



48 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

cesses in VII (74%) indicates that it is about right 
where it is. Bo. finds it properly placed. VIII: 
copying dictation, by G.; B., sustaining D.-D.'s (De- 
croly and Degand) objection (training test), omits 
it, but Bo. finds it rightly placed. IX : giving correct 
change, by G. and J., but not by Bo. (who used 
100 — 20 = 80). Definition by description, by J. and 
G. Arranging six weights, by J. and Bo., and ap- 
parently by B., who places it in X, while D.-D. would 
place it in V or VI. XII : repetition of 26 syllables, 
by J., G. and B., but too easy by Bo. if the sentence 
is simple and meaningful. XIII : all tests, by all. 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 



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50 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

The folloiving tests, contrariivise, proved to he too 
easy, in liarmony with my results : VII : counting 13 
pennies, by B., Bo. and Gr. D.-D. object to the test as 
too mechanical. VIII : naming four colors, by D.-D., 
B. and G. (Our VII- and Vlll-year-old epileptics 
required 7.7 seconds, and IX-year-olds 5 seconds, to 
name the colors.) X: naming money, by Bo., B., 
who has dropped it to IX, and perhaps by G., who 
finds 70% of successes in IX, but retains it in X. J., 
however, found it too hard. XII : three rhymes, by 
G., but not by Bo., nor by B., who has raised it to 
XV ( !) . Counting four pennies in V, which appeared 
to Bo. and myself too easy, G. and B. found about 
right, while D.-D. would discard it as a training test. 

The following tests, which I found too hard, would 
appear to he properly placed: VII: describing ac- 
tions, by B. and G. VIII : counting from 20 to 0, by 
B., Bo. and G. (considered a training test by D.-D.). 
IX: 6 memories by Bo. and G., but too hard by J. 
B. omits it on D.-D.'s objection (training). (Our 
IX-year-old epileptics average 4.8 memories ; our X- 
year-olds, 5.3, and our Xl-year-olds, 6.5). 

In respect to the following tests the discrepancies 
are more patent than in any of the above tests : VI : 
three commissions, found to be properly placed by 
G., too easy by D.-D. and Bo., and too hard by B. and 
myself. VI : giving own age, distinctly too hard for 
epileptics, considered valueless by Bo., omitted by 
B., and considered a training test by D.-D. XI : ut- 
tering 60 words, too easy by D.-D., too hard by Bo., 
right for Age XII by J. and B., and for XI by G., 
and too hard for epileptics (about right for Age XII, 
where the average number of words was 59.9). XI: 
abstract definitions (justice, charity, kindness, used 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 51 

at Skillman), right for Age XII by B. and Bo., too 
hard for XII by J., slightly too hard for XI by G., 
and distinctly too hard for XI for epileptics. XI: 
rearranging words, right for XII by B. and Bo., and 
for XI by G., too hard for XII by J., and distinctly 
too hard for epileptics of Age XI. 

Having thus surveyed the available facts, we are 
now in a position to formulate a number of impor- 
tant conclusions. 

(1) The marked irregularities in our curve of 
intelligence for epileptics are partly explained by 
the system of advance scoring from a method of 
wide-range testing, and by the method of combining 
the records of a large number of adult epileptics and 
a smaller number of juvenile epileptics (the propor- 
tion of the adults among the epileptics being larger 
than among the feeble-minded, as we have already 
seen). It might be assumed that the latter circum- 
stance — to which we have merely adverted in the 
foregoing pages — would render the curve more or 
less irregular, for a defective child and a defective 
adult whose intellectual strength or capacity are the 
same, would not necessarily test out exactly the same 
by the B.-S. scale as at present constituted. We 
have, indeed, already noted here and there various 
differences between the children and the adults 
(others will be noted in the following chapter), and 
have found evidences of the loss of lower-age capaci- 
ties among the adults. To measure the influence of 
this factor, however, it is necessary to examine the 
table of distribution (Table I), and particularly the 
table which shows the number of higher-grade sub- 



52 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

jects who pass especially the crucial ages, Ages VI 
and IX (Table VI). 

In the first table it is seen that, while there are 
about 3% more children than adults grading VI 
years, the number of IX-year-olds is approximately 
the same. The number of imbeciles among the chil- 
dren, however, is considerably higher than among 
the adults, while the number of morons and XIII- 
year-olds is noticeably less. In Table VI it is seen 
that of those testing from IX to XIII years, 22% of 
the children pass the IX-year tests, but only 5% of 
the adults (the differences for Ages X, XI, XII and 
XIII are also large, due possibly to the small num- 
ber of patients in some of these ages), while of those 
testing from VI to X, none of the children passes 
Age VI, as against 11% of the adults (with large 
differences also for Ages VII to X). 

While it is thus evident that an adventitious factor 
of this character — the averaging of the gradings of 
defective children and adults — will distort the sym- 
metry of the frequency curve, an examination of the 
separate columns for children and adults in Table I 
shows that skews are present in the classifications 
of each, particularly at Ages IX and X, only less 
prominently for the children than for the adults. 
Hence, we appear to be justified in the conclusion 
that the distortions in our curve are not primarily 
caused by the method of advance scoring from wide- 
range testing or by the merging of the grades of 
young and old defectives. 

(2) On the other hand, one of the significant 
causes of our skewed curve (skewed certainly as 
compared with the curve for feeble-mindedness) is 
the intrinsic defectiveness of the measuring scale, 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 53 

for our analysis has demonstrated that there is a 
greater discrepancy in the B.-S. 1908 scale (and 1911 
scale so far as Johnston's results indicate) than has 
hitherto been conceded or suspected. Its obvious 
inequalities affect not only some of the individual 
tests in various levels, but also the age-standards. 
Just how much of the irregularities can be ascribed 
to the defects in the scale it is impossible to deter- 
mine with definiteness until a re-examination of epi- 
leptics has been made by a scale rendered maximally 
correct and standardized for 'Hypical" American 
children. 

(3) It is, however, not only probable, but reason- 
ably certain, that the combined influences of the fore- 
going factors does not suffice fully to explain our 
curve. Three affirmative reasons may be given why 
another factor, namely, the peculiar mental make-up 
of the epileptic, must be considered. First, an in- 
spection of Table VIII shows that the percentage of 
failures on the difficult tests is abnormally large for 
the epileptics, in nearly every case very much larger 
than for the normal groups, so that the correspond- 
ing traits in the epileptics have at least suffered 
marked impairment. Second, some of the tests ab- 
normally difficult for the epileptics do not always 
prove difficult for the normals. Third, failures on 
some of the tests through various levels imply an 
impairment of the same or related functions. Thus, 
the epileptics suffer from a fundamental impairment 
of memory, as shown by consistent failures in all the 
tests of memory span (sentence and number tests), 
by the inability to reproduce six units from reading 
a short passage once, by the inability to recall their 
ages, and to remember and execute three simple com- 



54 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

missions. They are also markedly retarded or 
feeble in the higher thought processes, the rational 
functions brought into play in the more intellectual 
tests and in the tests calling for an adjustment to 
new situations. This is shown by the incapacity to 
form a rectangle from two triangular pieces, to exe- 
cute a triple order, to construct an intelligible sen- 
tence from displaced words, to give descriptive or 
classificatory definitions of common objects or ab- 
stract definitions of simple qualities, or to infer facts 
from given situations (the situations employed in 
the test, it may be conceded, do not well fit American 
conditions), or to utter 60 words in three minutes. 
The epileptics suffer from a pronounced retardation 
of rate in the stream of thought and of motor re- 
sponse. They apparently also suffer from a blunt- 
ing of the kinesthetic sensitivity: the threshold of 
sensory discrimination for lifted weights is abnor- 
mally lowered. To carry the analysis further, how- 
ever, is not advisable until the scale has been more 
accurately ^'calibrated." When this has been done, 
its value for individual mental diagnosis will be 
greatly enhanced. 

While, therefore, the peculiarities in our curve can 
be partly ascribed to extraneous circumstances and 
to imperfections in the scale, they also implicate in- 
herent anomalies in the mentation of the epileptic. 
In fact, our B.-S. testing has furnished us with a 
picture of the results of a process of mental wreck- 
age caused by pathological processes going on in the 
afflicted individual or by a neuropathic heredity, 
whereby the integrity of various mental functions 
has been impaired at various levels of mental devel- 
opment, or whereby certain lower levels of mental 



TESTING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS 55 

functioning have been swept away, while higher 
levels have remained intact — ^mental sentinels that 
have remained to tell the story of destruction. This 
interesting clinical picture of mental ruin and havoc 
is still incomplete in its finer delineations and invites 
further psycho-clinical research. 

(4) Finally, the facts brought to view above 
should make it patent that the B.-S, scale is still in 
its experimental stages — a fact that should occasion 
no surprise when we consider the short time that it 
has been in use, particularly in this country. It still 
requires a thoroughgoing tryout and revision. Ee- 
visions have, indeed, already been attempted by 
Binet and Goddard. In some respects their changes 
harmonize with the requirements of our comparative 
table (Table VII), but in other respects not. In this 
table only the tests most obviously misplaced for 
epileptics have been compared with normal perform- 
ances.) Since there is considerable disagreement in 
the conclusions of the five writers who have worked 
with normals in France, Belgium, Germany, Eng- 
land and the United States, it is obvious that the 
question cannot be considered closed. American in- 
vestigators will have to establish norms for Ameri- 
can children. The studies already made sufficiently 
indicate that a test too difficult for children of one 
nationality may be too easy for those of another. 
For American workers Goddard 's results, based as 
they are upon an extensive testing of American chil- 
dren, are the most suggestive. But it appears to me 
wise to continue the use of the 1908 scale until more 
returns are in — until we have tested large masses of 
boys and girls by the ivide-range testing to which I 
have already alluded. It is questionable whether we 



56 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

can calibrate and improve the scale by confining the 
testing to a very limited range of years. 

[Obviously, this work will require the earnest cooperation of many 
psycho-clinicists. More than that, it ought to receive the undivided 
time and attention of child study specialists — of a worker or group of 
workers who can devote themselves to this particular service as a life 
career. In my judgment, this work can probably not be done effectively 
and within a reasonable time unless it is established as an independent 
department of research. The clerical labor connected with investi- 
gations such as this is so onerous that it should be cared for by a force 
of clerical assistants. At the present time all, except possibly one, of 
the psycho-clinical investigators are swamped with purely clerical 
work (computing, tabulating, etc.), and must use up their best energies 
in purely routine and mechanical labor. This is uneconomical from 
the standpoint of public finance and the conservation of the nation's 
best creative brain power.] 

The further improvement of the scale, we may 
add, requires the transposition of certain tests, the 
elimination of certain others which seem valueless, 
the equalization of the number in each age or the 
proper differential adjustment of the system of ac- 
crediting points, and the increase rather than the 
decrease of the number of tests for each age. I feel 
that the last point requires emphasis. We need to 
probe a considerable number of traits and capacities 
for the reason given (p. 42) if we would arrive at a 
true clinical picture of the child or a correct classifi- 
cation. We cannot hope to diagnose or grade accu- 
rately if we test only a few capacities, or if we base 
our judgments on only a few symptoms. The ele- 
ment of variation in human traits is too large. What 
is needed is a well-balanced, comprehensive survey 
of the fundamental human mental capacities. The 
minimal number of tests for each age should be 
placed, I believe, at ten. I should regard it as unfor- 
tunate to eliminate such tests as the age, writing and 
reading tests. All of these have furnished important 
information with respect to the epileptic (as well as 



TESTING THE BINETSIMON TESTS 57 

various types of insane patients recently tested). 
Nor is it essential to eliminate all the tests which are 
dependent upon training (or, indeed, all which are 
pedagogical), partly because tliis is not desirable 
and partly because this is impossible. Nature and 
nurture proceed hand in hand, inseparable, recipro- 
cal, interacting and independent only in conception. 
Just as we posit a normal rate of development which 
the forces of human nature undergo — normal, that 
is, within limits — so we may posit a normal curve of 
development within variable limits for a given order 
of civilization or social evolution, which human 
changes follow as a result of the processes of nur- 
ture. We cannot, if we would, test merely pure na- 
tive capacity uninfluenced by environmental agen- 
cies, except possibly during the first months of life. 
But we can measure native capacity as modified by 
the environment. In this country, where we have 
fairly uniform standards of educational require- 
ments in the schools, there would seem little rea- 
son for eliminating some of the more funda- 
mental academic tests. A child of eight or nine who 
cannot read at all certainly demonstrates his intel- 
lectual inferiority thereby. 

To repeat : The evidence regarding the imperfec- 
tions in the Binet-Simon measuring scale of intelli- 
gence cannot be brushed aside. The scale certainly 
has not yet been made maximally accurate or scien- 
tifically precise — scientifically precise in the Aris- 
totelian sense (we may demand only that degree of 
accuracy in a given subject of inquiry which the sub- 
ject-matter itself allows) or sufficiently standardized. 
A large work and a challenge remain for the students 
of "Intelligenzpriifung" — a work that will pay 



58 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

double interest on a large investment of time and 
labor, for the public schools, juvenile courts and in- 
stitutions for defectives stand in dire need of a sim- 
ple, objective, practical mental measuring rod by 
which to determine the degree of mental arrest, de- 
fect or acceleration of deviating individuals, and by 
which properly to classify institutional cases. 

In the light of the defects which we have found in 
the scale, what, then, shall we say of the value of the 
B.-S. system of classifying defectives? An answer 
to this question must await the analysis of the fol- 
lowing chapter. 



CHAPTEE III. 

THE VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS IN 
RELATION TO THE AGE CLASSIFICATION OF THE 
BINET-SIMON SCALE. 

Paidologists have been wont to accept tlie postu- 
late that mental traits or capacities increase in effi- 
ciency or multiply in number with increasing age. 
The validity of the B.-S. scale itself depends on the 
validity of this assumption. If we accept the as- 
sumption as correct, the following conclusions 
follow : 

First, it is feasible to construct a graded scale of 
mental performances consisting of a series of tests 
which either progressively increase in difficulty 
from year to year (similar tests being repeated at 
various levels) or measure new traits developing at 
various higher levels. 

Second, it should be possible to arrange these tests 
in a fairly accurate ascending age series, so that we 
can locate the mental station of normal and ab- 
normal individuals in units of mental age, and deter- 
mine how any mental or physical characteristics 
vary in accordance with a fixed classificatory or 
graded scheme. 

Third, by plotting age-curves for the individual 
traits tested in the scale (as well as for functions 
tested independently of the scale), we secure a means 

59 



60 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

of trying out the accuracy of the scale itself and of 
determining more fully to what extent these traits 
vary with age among normal and abnormal indi- 
viduals. 

In this chapter I shall be concerned with this third 
conclusion, because the imiDcrfections revealed in the 
1908 B.-S. scale by the data considered in Chapter II 
naturally raise the question whether or not the scale is 
of any practical value in the mental grading or diag- 
nosis of normal or abnormal subjects. If it can he 
shown that the average efficiency in the various 
traits tested increases ivith growing age {annually or 
biennially), then the scale, in spite of its imperfec- 
tions, and provided the mean variations in each age 
are not too large, remains a valuable means of deter- 
mining, in comparable terms, the classification of 
different homogeneous groups of persons. For if 
the individuals were very poorly classified, we should 
expect to find obvious irregularities or skews in the 
curve of efficiencies for each trait, and extreme mean 
variations. Of course, the relevancy of the scale, 
even if it be imperfect, for determining the relative 
station of different individuals in the same homoge- 
neous group, needs no argument. 

The discussion of the scale will also serve to bring 
to view various facts of considerable interest re- 
specting the mental efficiencies of epileptics. 

In order satisfactorily to analyze our data it will 
be necessary to examine the averages for the 
entire population, of all ages and both sexes, in the 
various tables, and the corresponding mean vari- 
ations. The former will be examined with consider- 
able thoroughness, the latter more briefly. Finally, 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 61 

a concliiding section will be devoted to the more 
general conclusions and comparisons. 

It is unfortunate that, in the absence of the origi- 
nal data, it will be necessary to limit this study to 
four B.-S. tests, and to tests with the form-board, 
dynamometer and ataxiagraph. 

Explanation of Tests. 

In the color test (Table X) the patients (224 epi- 
leptics between the B.-S. ages III and XIII) were 
uniformly, with few exceptions, instructed to name 
the four colors as rapidly as possible. The experi- 
menter pointed to each color in succession rapidly, 
so that the results would represent maximal per- 
formances were it not for the fact that the green used 
in the testing of about one-half of the patients was 
poorly saturated, and therefore caused hesitation or 
failures. Green, even at its best, is the least fre- 
quently named of these colors, among normal per- 
sons, as appears in Bobertag's B.-S. testing of Ger- 
man children, while red is the most frequently named. 
Blue and yellow were about equally difficult. The 
following was found by Winch to be the order of the 
correct application of color names among children 
three to five years of age: black, white, red, blue, 
green, yellow, violet and orange. The order agrees 
with Bobertag's, except that green is placed ahead 
of yellow. In my testing of epileptics no other single 
color caused so many delays, indecisions or failures 
as green. I agree fully with Bobertag that these 
colors, in order to serve a useful purpose in the scale, 
should be standardized. 

In the test of uttering discrete words the subjects 
were always told to utter just as many single words 



62 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

as possible during three minutes or until told to stop 
(Table XV). Those who were slow were usually 
incited to greater effort by verbal suggestions. Three 
or four examples, illustrative of the object of the 
test, were furnished at the outset. No record was 
included which consisted merely of phrases or sen- 
tences or which consisted of any considerable num- 
ber of these, and none was excluded because of pecu- 
liarities in the word lists (such as uttering many 
numbers — unless, indeed, all the words were num- 
bers — or letters of the alphabet, or names of months 
or days). 

In the reading test (Tables XI and XVII) the fol- 
lowing selection was used: 

Three | houses | on | fire. 

New York, | September 5th. | A fire ' last night | destroyed | (three 
houses) in the center of the city. | 

Seventeen | families | are without homes. | The loss is more than ] 
thirty thousand dollars. | 

In saving | a child | who was asleep in bed, | one of the firemen | 
was badly | burned | on the hands and arms. | 

(The units are indicated by the line divisions. In a few cases half 
credits were given ; e. g., half a memory for "September," "on the 
hands," "thirty thousand.") 

The subjects were merely told to read the selec- 
tion, without intimation that they would be expected 
to reproduce it. To many this test was given after 
some of the speed tests, so that a number of subjects 
undoubtedly inferred that they were expected to read 
the passage as rapidly as possible. The results may 
therefore be a trifle better than the general average. 

In the form-board (Table XIII) and hand dyna- 
mometer (Table XIX) tests the patients were, again, 
invariably urged to do their best, and only their best 
records are averaged in the tables. Each one was 
given three trials each with the Vineland pattern 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 63 

form-board and the Smedley dynamometer, but the 
tests were repeated during second or third sittings 
for many subjects, so that frequently the figures 
utilized are the best single records in from six to nine 
trials. It may be said, parenthetically, that the best 
form-board record was by no means always the last 
one ; on the contrary, many epileptics lost with prac- 
tice or familiarity. 

Uniformly, the form-board was placed directly in 
front of the subject, with the side containing the star 
nearest. The subjects saw the blocks removed from 
their proper places by the experimenter. The blocks 
were thrown into a heap on the table along the far- 
ther side of the board, instead of along either end, so 
that they should be equally distant from the two 
hands. Either hand could thus be used with the same 
ease. The subjects were told to use only one hand. 

The same uniformity of procedure was used in the 
dynamometer test. The instrument, properly ad- 
justed to the size of the hands, was placed by the 
experimenter, dial up, in the subjects' hands so that 
the palms always faced up. Two results thereby fol- 
low: (1) the subjects were able to see the movement 
of the registration pointer; and (2) the thumb sides 
of the two hands, which probably exert a greater 
pressure than the little finger sides, came into con- 
tact with the opposite ends of the stirrup of the dyna- 
mometer. This circumstance may be of some impor- 
tance in dynamometry work, as indicated by a series 
of calibration tests of the instrument, which showed 
that the same weight on the two sides of the stirrup 
does not give exactly the same reading. 

The weights were suspended from the stirrup by an iron hook, so 
made as to move freely (without friction against any stationary part) 



Objective 










Weight 


Result 


of Normal 


Lift. 




Kg. 


Right. 


Middle. 


Left. 


Rigt 


5.2 


4.7 


5.2 


4.7 




12.4 


10.3 


11.7 


10.0 


16. 


16.5 


14.1 


16.4 


14.3 


15. 


31.7 


28.2 


30.6 


27.4 




48.2 


45. 


45.7 


35.5 




60.3 


48.8 


58.2 







64 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

when the dynamometer was lifted from the dial end. Thus pressure 
was exerted on the stirrup in much the same way as when it is 
squeezed by the hand. The hook was suspended from one of three 
points on the stirrup : the middle and either end. "Normal" indicates 
that the weights were lifted slowly or with moderate rapidity ; "fast," 
rapidly or with a quick jerk. (The weights were weighed on a new 
pair of platform scales, so that the weighing is probably correct.) 

TABLE IX. 

Calibration Tests of the Smedley Dynamometer. 

Result of Fast Lift. 
It. Middle. Left. 

19. 

24.7 16.1 

36. 

64.9 

The figures are averages of from three to twenty trials. 

A number of interesting fact^ appear from a study of these figures. 
(1) Pulls on the right and left side of the stirrup practically always 
gave a different reading, usually amounting on the average to a frac- 
tion of a kilo (but with a maximum of nearly 10 kg.). In most in- 
stances the right side of the stirrup gave the larger registration. (2) 
The middle pull in all cases gave the highest registration — presumably 
because the pulls at the ends occasion friction along the sides of the 
piston. The difference between the middle and side pulls ranges be- 
tween 1.4 and 3.2 kg. (two extremes excepted) — a difference so large 
as seriously to threaten to vitiate dynamometry work. Consequently 
it is of the utmost importance in testing with the Smedley dynamom- 
eter that the subjects exert the pressure along the middle of the 
stirrup. This precaution is by no means always observed, particu- 
larly not when readings are taken while the handle has been allowed 
to slide out of the palm on the side opposite the thumb. In this case 
the pressure is exerted at the end of the stirrup, with a consequent 
less. In the present research the attempt was made to secure middle 
pressure. This instrumental defect should be remedied. (3) If we 
consider the middle registrations, it appears that the dynamometer 
in use was not true to scale, except for one or two weights. The 
spring was slighty too stiff. The inaccuracy, moreover, seems to in- 
crease with increasing pressure, as shown by these differences for 
the successive weights (beginning with 12.4 kg.) : .7, .1, 1.1, 2.5 and 
2.1 kg. In the interest of scientific precision, dynamometers must 
be calibrated as accurately as possible and tested objectively from 
time to time. (4) The testing with the same weights sometimes 
differed quite considerably on different days (the tests were made be- 
tween December and March). This may possibly be due to tempera- 
ture or other atmospheric changes which may alter the tension of the 
spring. Is this a remediable defect? (5) The differences between the 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS DO 

"normal" and fast or jerky lifts were large, amounting, for the "mid- 
dle" readings, to 7.3, 8.3, 5.4 and 6.7 kg. for the different standards. 
(The friction of the recording pointer was kept uniform during all the 
tests.) The quick lifts or jerks, of course, invariably gave higher 
readings. It is therefore evident that dynamometry results may he 
invalidated, for purposes of comparison, hy differences in the method 
of squeezing. I have found that most subjects tend to apply a steady, 
gradual pressure. But there are many who give a rapid or violent 
squeeze. Nearly all of our tabulated results were obtained by the 
first method. The readings, however, according to the above figures, 
appear to be somewhat too low. It should be added that no results 
are tabulated from subjects having any but slight injuries in one or 
both hands or arms. 

Finally, in the ataxiagraphic test (Table XXII) 
the subjects were required to stand under a small 
horizontal sliding board, to which was fastened a 
tracing record-sheet of white paper. The board 
could be moved vertically, so that it could be adjusted 
to any height of subject, and also sagittally, so that 
the ataxiagram could be properly placed on the paper 
with reference to the antero-posterior axis. The 
ataxiagram was made by a soft marking pencil, which 
was glued to a band of spring metal, attached to a 
sort of ataxiagraphic helmet, which consisted of two 
curved encased metal bands fitting snugly over the 
cranium. The spring kept the tracing pencil in con- 
stant contact with the paper, except when the subject 
dropped the head or swayed too much. In such cases 
the experimenter was sometimes able to lower the 
tracing sheet, or if not, to trace the record by hand 
with sufficient accuracy. In a number of cases in 
which the ataxiagram extended beyond the paper it 
was possible for the experimenter to determine the 
extent of the departure. At the beginning the spring 
was depressed by the experimenter's hand until the 
record board had been properly adjusted. The start- 
ing point on the ataxiagram, the point of initial con- 
tact, or a point not far removed from this point, 



66 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

would have afforded four measurements, anterior, 
posterior, to right, to left ; but the data for this tabu- 
lation are not now available, so that in Table XXII 
only the gross measurements are given for the an- 
tero-posterior and lateral sways, irrespective of the 
point of initial contact. 

Two methods were employed in this test. In the 
first, the subjects were instructed to stand with the 
feet placed to form a V (heels together). In one 
series the eyes were closed, and in the other the open 
eyes were allowed to rove at will. In the second 
method they were instructed to stand with both heels 
and toes close together, with hands hanging along 
the sides, and the eyes, when open, fixated on a black 
disc (about 1 inch in diameter) attached to the win- 
dow curtain about 12 feet away. The disc was ad- 
justed to a level with the subject's eyes. In neither 
method were the subjects instructed to try to stand 
still or rigidly, but simply to stand naturally. Noth- 
ing was said regarding the object of the test. With 
both methods about half the subjects were first tested 
with the eyes closed and about half with the eyes 
open, and each test (given in close succession) lasted 
exactly one minute. Table XXII contains the data 
secured by the second method only. A search of the 
available literature indicated that there has been no 
uniformly observed method in this test, but the sec- 
ond method here described seems to the author to 
possess most merits. The limiting of the tabulation 
to the second method explains, in part, why no more 
records are used in the study (104 males and 40 
females) : the station of many patients was taken by 
the first method. Another reason is that ataxia- 
grams secured from ataxic, choreic, paralytic, para- 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 67 

plegic or hemiplegic subjects were excluded from the 
tabulation. Accordingly, the ataxiagrams used 
should represent the body sway in epilepsy uncompli- 
cated by special permanent motor disturbances. It 
should be added that a number of patients, particu- 
larly low-grade ones, either did not fixate the disc at 
all, or allowed the eyes to rove more or less. 

Analysis of the Avekages. 

In Tables X, XI and XIII an increase of efficiency 
or capacity with increasing B-S. age is shown by a 
progressive diminution of the time of execution. In 
the corresponding graphs (II, IV and VI) this is 
shown by a drop in the curves. 

The Time Needed to Name the Four Colors — Red, 
Yellow, Green and Blue. 

The time required to name the four colors. Table 
X, does, indeed, decrease with increasing B.-S. age, 
but the decrease from year to year is not very regu- 
lar, as seen at a glance in Graph II. There are 
numerous exceptions in the averages for the general 
population, the children and the adults. The excep- 
tions are least numerous among the girls and women. 
The differences, however, between the groups, the 
imbeciles and morons, for all patients, 4 seconds, and 
especially between Age III and Age XIII, about 7 
seconds, are quite considerable. The difference be- 
tween the averages of Ages VI and VII and of the 
moron group is much greater for the adults than for 
the children (3.7 sec. compared with 1.1); for the 
girls than for the boys (.9 as against .2), and for the 
men than for the women (6.8 as against 3.1). The 
sex differences are also brought out by the general 



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VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 69 

averages for Ages VI to XIII, from which it appears 
that the girls are superior to the boys (average of 
4.9 see. compared with 5.7) ; the women to the men 
(5.2 compared with 7.9) ; and the children to the 
adults (5.7 compared with 6.5). In such a simple 
trait as the time of naming four colors it may be as- 
sumed in harmony with the above findings that in- 
creasing maturity will not accelerate the speed after 
the colors have once been really learned. 

The following conclusions seem to be justified : 

(1) Significant sex and maturity differences (dif- 
ferences between the juvenile and adult periods of 
life) are brought out in so simple a test as the speed 
of naming the four fundamental colors. Epileptic 
children are superior to adults, and girls and women 
to boys and men. That normal girls excel normal 
boys in the knowledge of colors has been shown be- 
fore. Bobertag recently found this condition to ob- 
tain in this very test. Moreover, it is stated that 
color-blindness is more prevalent among males than 
females (in about the proportion of 4:% to .5%). 
There is a bigger difference between high and low 
grade adults than between high and low grade 
children. 

(2) This trait (the speed of naming the colors) 
apparently reaches its maturity at about Age IX. 

(3) In this test the increase with each increasing 
B.-S. age is not very regular, indicating either that 
the subjects are not very closely classified or that 
this is not a very satisfactory test by which to check 
the accuracy of the scale. 



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VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 71 

The Time Required to Read the Passage About a 

Fire. 

On the other hand, the time required to read the 
selection, Table XI, decreased appreciably and regu- 
larly (as is strikingly apparent in Graph IV), with 
only one exception among the girls, and two each 
among the men and women. The reading time 
ranges from 129.2 sec. Age VII, to 18.5 sec. Age 
XIII, a difference of 80.7 sec The difference be- 
tween the averages of Ages VI and VII and of the 
moron group amounts to as much as 56.1 sec for the 
general population, 111.7 for the boys, 50.8 for the 
women, and 30.1 for the men. The shortening of the 
time from each age from IX to XIII amounts, re- 
spectively, to 24.6, 17.3, 18.1, 3.3. and 4.7 sec— a 
series of progressive improvements. The largest 
and most consistent improvements in these years are 
made by the boys and men (ignoring the girls and 
children, where the data are incomplete), as seen in 
Table XII. 

TABLE XII. 

Improvement in Reading Capacity with each B.-8. Age. (The figures 
represent the gain in seconds made hy a given age over the next 
preceding age, based on Table XI.) 



Age. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Children. 


Men. 


Women. 


Adults. 


IX 


49.6 


81.0 


77.5 


31.1 


.4 


14.0 


X 


33.1 


— 3.0 


26.3 


16.8 


4.6 


15.6 


XI 


35.7 


28.4 


8.0 


13.7 


14.6 


11.9 


XII 


11.8 






8.7 


—12.6 


1.7 


XIII 


7.5 






— 1.0 


12. 


4.0 



Ave. 27.5 35.5 37.2 13.8 3.8 9.4 

A minus sign indicates loss of eflSciency. 

From Table XI it is apparent that, in respect to 
reading ability as gauged by time, the girls are di§- 



73 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

tinctly superior to the boys ( shorter time in all ages 
and in the averages) ; the adults to the children (in 
all ages and the averages), and the women to the men 
(in six of eight ages and in two averages). 

We may accordingly conclude that the reading 
test is a valuable test for four reasons : 

(1) It discloses significant sex and maturity dif- 
ferences. Here the epileptic females surpass the 
males and the adults the children. But the difference 
between the high and the low grade groups is great- 
est for the boys. 

(2) The considerable superiority of the adults 
indicates that reading is an adult art, and that it 
seems to be worth while to teach reading to epileptics 
in spite of their tendency toward progressive deteri- 
oration or degeneration. This point, however, re- 
quires special investigation. 

(3) Apparently there is a large age-difference in 
reading capacity, particularly from VII or VIII to 
XI. The very considerable gain at IX seems to in- 
dicate that there is a pronounced advance in reading 
ability for epileptics at this age. At the same time 
it is seen that the progressive decrease in the reading 
time is fairly regular from VIII to XI. 

(4) A reading test thus supplies a valid test for 
differentiating mental capacity and for checking the 
accuracy of intellectual measuring scales — albeit the 
test is more pedagogical than psychological. As 
judged by the time of reading, the B.-S. grouping 
appears to be fairly satisfactory. 

It seems, therefore, unwise to eliminate the test 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 73 

from the scale, as Binet has done in the latest (1911) 
revision. So important was the reading test in the 
original B.-S. scale that it was used as the differential 
between two groups of defectives, the imbeciles and 
the morons — the latter of whom can be taught to 
read, while the former cannot. The fact that the test 
is more pedagogical than psychological, and that it 
represents the results of training, should not neces- 
sarily militate against its use for psychological diag- 
nosis. The attempt to teach children to read will 
probably have been made in the case of the majority 
of subjects who will ever be tested. 

The Time Required to Replace the Blocks in the 
Form-Board. 

In this test (Table XIII) there are decided and 
consistent gains (as is markedly apparent for the 
general population in Graph VI), with three excep- 
tions each among the boys and girls, and two each 
among the men and women. The difference between 
Ages I and XIII amounts to 211.6 sec, and between 
the imbecile and moron groups 84.4 sec. The differ- 
ence between the imbeciles and morons is consist- 
ently larger for the girls than for the boys (97.7 as 
against 78.7 sec.) ; for the men than for the women 
(63.6 against 50.9), and for the children than for the 
adults (89.1 as against 63). On the other hand, the 
male morons are five times as efficient as the male 
imbeciles ; the female morons three times as efficient 
as the female imbeciles ; the boy morons 5.5 times as 
efficient as the boy imbeciles, and the girl morons 5.2 
times as efficient as the girl imbeciles. The corre- 



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VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 75 

sponding figure for the children is 5.6, for the adults 
4.2, and for the entire population 5.4. 

A further study of the sex-differences shows that 
there is no constant difference between the male and 
female imbeciles, each being superior in two ages. 
Among the morons the males are superior in all ex- 
cept Ages IX and XI. But, in the general average, 
the females excel by 8.4 sec. 

Among the men and women the same lack of con- 
stancy occurs, each being superior in about half of 
the ages, but the men excel by 8.7 sec. in the general 
average. 

Again, the girl imbeciles surpass the boy imbeciles 
in three of the five ages. But the boys excel in the 
general average by 24.7 sec, and the boy morons are 
distinctly superior to the girl morons, excelling in 
all ages but Age XI, with a general moron average 
that is higher by 20.9 sec. 

Finally, the same lack of constancy obtains be- 
tween the children and adult groups, the former be- 
ing superior in five ages and the latter in four. But 
the general average for the adults is distinctly bet- 
ter (by 17.8 sec). 

The gains from year to year, beginning with Age 
V, amount to 26.6, 20.4, 31.1, 7.0, 4.6, 2.0, 2.8, 1.1 and 
.6 sec. — a progressively diminishing series of im- 
provements. A comparison of the improvements in 
the separate columns shows that the gains, as well 
as the fluctuations (losses), are considerable in Ages 
V, VI and VII, and that, from VII or VIII on, the 
capacity functioning in this test becomes more stable : 
the gains are smaller, and the losses are smaller and 
less frequent. This appears from an examination of 
Table XIV. 



76 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

TABLE XIV. 

Oains or Losses made in the Time Required to Replace the Blocks in 
the Form-Board. {The figures indicate the difference in seconds 
between a given age and the next previous age, based on Table 
XIII.) 

B.-S. 

Age. Boys. Girls. Children. Men. Women. Adults. Males. Females. 

V 34.3 22.0 28.1 —64.5 137.2 48.5 —43.0 90.4 

VI —62.2 6.4 —20.5 92.9 —15.9 36.8 50.8 —8.0 

VII 87.8 —4.0 33.7 37.5 15.5 28.0 53.7 7.3 

VIII 5.9 3.8 7.6 2.5 9.6 6.3 3.5 13.5 

IX 1.2 16.5 7.6 4.4 2.9 3.5 3.6 6.0 

X 3.3 5.6 4.0 2.7 — .7 1.1 2.9 .8 

XI — .3 3.7 .9 4.1 2.5 3.6 2.5 3.0 

XII 2.3 —3.0 .7 1.7 1.1 1.3 1.9 1.9 

XIII — 2.0 .5 1.5 .8 .0 

Ave. 7.8 6.4 7.7 9.1 17.0 14.4 8.3 14.2 

The boys show a greater average improvement in 
these ages than the girls, the adults than the children, 
the women than the men, and the females than the 
males. Much of the superiority of the adults and 
females, however, is due to the abnormal gain in 
Age V. The small gains between XII and XIII are 
due either to the relative maturity of the capacity 
at XII, to the fewness of the subjects or to the failure 
of the B.-S. scale sufficiently to differentiate capacity 
for these ages. 

From the above survey we conclude: 
(1) That there may be certain sex-differences, 
and differences as between adults and children, in 
the capacity functioning in this test, but these differ- 
ences do not appear very clearly with epileptics. 
Here the males appear to surpass the females, par- 
ticularly among the high-grade subjects. The boy 
morons are distinctly superior to any other group, 
and the adults excel the children both in the general 
average and in the amount of improvement from 
year to year. 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 77 

(2) The capacity improves quite regularly, in 
progressively diminishing amounts, with each in- 
creasing B.-S. age. The irregularities in the lower 
ages are probably due to the fewness of the subjects. 

(3) Accordingly, this is a fairly good test for 
purposes of classification, diagnosis and testing the 
accuracy of intelligence scales, at least between the 
Ages of VI and XII. 

(4) Judged by the time required to replace the 
blocks, the B.-S. classification of the patients pos- 
sesses a very fair degree of reliability. 

If we now turn to the tables (XV, XVII and XIX) 
in which increasing capacity is shown by increments 
in the output within fixed time-limits, we find again 
evidences of improvement with each growing B.-S. 
age. This improvement is indicated by rising curves 
in the graphs (III, V and VII). 

Number of Words Uttered in Three Minutes. 

The number of words uttered increases regularly 
(Table XV), with one exception each among the men, 
women, girls and boys, from 16 words at Age VI to 
65 at Age XIII, a difference of 49 words. There is 
only one skew in the graph (III). The difference 
between the average of Ages VI and VII and the 
moron group amoimts to 21.2 words for the general 
population, 25.9 for the boys, 23.2 for the girls, 24.2 
for the men, 17.5 for the women, 23.4 for the children, 
20.9 for the adults, 36.2 for the males, and 18.2 for 
the females. The difference between the high and 
low grade patients is thus greatest for the males 
(both boys and men) and the children. The differ- 
ences between each of the successive ages from IX 
to XIII amount to the following for the entire popu- 



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VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TILVITS 79 

lation : 11.9, 10.2, 7.7, 8.6 and 5.1. The correspond- 
ing figures for the separate groups are shown in 
Table XVI. 

TABLE XVI. 

Gains or Losses with each B.-S. Age in the Numher of Words uttered 
in Three Minutes. (The figures indicate the difference in the num- 
ber of words given in a given age and the next previous age, as 
computed from Table XV.) 



Age. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Children. 


Men. 


Women. 


Males. 


Females. 


Adult 


IX 


2.7 


17.2 


8.7 


15.4 


12.7 


10.8 


14.1 


13.8 


X 


10.7 


18.5 


13.2 


11.1 


5.9 


10.9 


9.0 


8.1 


XI 


9.2 


5.9 


10.2 


2.4 


9.0 


5.1 


12.3 


6.7 


XII 


13.0 


6.0 


15.3 


7.3 


3.0 


17.4 


7.3 


6.0 


XIII 


4.5 






8.8 


11.6 


—4.4 


1.0 


9.3 



Ave. 8.0 11.9 11.8 9. 8.4 7.9 8.9 8.7 

Here the gains are the highest for the girls and 
children. They continue, though in diminished de- 
gree, to Age XIIL This indicates, as one might ex- 
pect in a test of this sort, that the rate of utterance 
increases beyond the age of XIII, so that a free asso- 
ciation test might be found valuable at higher levels. 
(Possibly a controlled association test would be still 
more valuable at various levels.) In the rate of word 
utterance the girls excel the boys (better in five of 
the ages and in the three averages) ; the men the 
women (better in seven ages and in two averages) ; 
the children the adults (better in five of eight ages 
and in three averages), and the males the females (in 
six of eight ages and in two averages). 

The following conclusions follow : 

(1) There are certain sex and maturity differ- 
ences in the free association test, although the sex- 
differences do not appear very clearly among these 
epileptics. (We are speaking of quantitative, not 
qualitative differences.) The girls seem to surpass 
the boys, the men the women, and the children the 





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VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 81 

adults. The gains with advancing years apparently 
are greatest for the girls and children, while the dif- 
ference between the high and the low grade groups 
is greatest for the males and the children. 

(2) There is a fairly regular, although slightly 
diminishing, increase in the capacity with each rising 
B.-S. age. 

(3) Accordingly, the test is of value for mental 
classification and for checldng the accuracy of intel- 
ligence scales. 

(4) The B.-S. scale fares fairly well under the 
scrutiny of this test. 

Facts Reproduced in the Reading Test. 

The number of facts retained in the reading test 
likewise increases regularly (Table XVII, Graph V), 
with one exception each among the boys, girls, 
women and children ; two among the men and adults, 
and none for the general population. The increase 
ranges from 2,1 at Age VII to 7.4 at XIII, a differ- 
ence of 3.1 memories. The gains for each successive 
age from VIII to XIII are, for the entire population : 
1.6, 1.1, 0.5, 1.2, 0.3 and 0.6. The figures in the sep- 
arate columns are as follows : 

TABLE XVIII. 

Gains or Losses with each B.-8. Age in the Number of Units Repro- 
duced in the Reading Test (the figures indicate the difference be- 
tween a given age and the next previous age, based on Table XVII.) 



B.-S. 
Age. 
VIII 


Boys. 
2.4 


Girls. 
.4 


Children. Men. 
1.5 1.9 


Women. 
1.1 


Adults. 
1.4 


Males. 1 
2.0 


femal( 
1.0 


IX 


.8 


1.9 


1.2 1.9 


1.0 


1.4 


1.5 


1.2 


X 


3.3 


— .3 


2.1 —1.0 


.3 


.3 


.8 


.1 


XI 


—1.4 


.4 


— .7 2.6 


.9 


2.0 


1.0 


.8 


XII 


4.9 


2.3 


3.9 — .8 


— .7 


.9 


.8 


.1 


XIII 


—1.8 




1.2 


1.8 


1.4 


.1 


1.3 



Ave. 1.3 .94 1.8 .96 .7 1.2 1.0 .75 



82 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

The increase in retentiveness thus varies consid- 
erably from age to age and group to group. The 
largest average improvements from VIII to XIII 
are made by the boys, adults and the males. This 
coincides with the highest memory efficiency, as de- 
termined by the number of units retained : the boys 
surpass the girls (in five of six ages and in the aver- 
ages) ; the children the adults (only in two of five 
ages, but the averages are higher) ; the men the 
women (in four of seven ages and in the averages), 
and the males the females (in six of seven ages and 
the averages). 

These facts suggest the following conclusions: 

(1) The ability to reproduce prose (read by the 
subject) varies with the sex and the period of life. 
Here the males and the adults excel in the average 
amount of improvement from year to year, and the 
males and the children in the absolute number of 
units reproduced. 

(2) There is a diminishing, though not entirely 
regular, increase with each increasing B.-S. age. 

(3) The irregularities found in the age curve in 
the various columns are due either to the fewness of 
the subjects, to the peculiarities of the groups (epi- 
leptics), or to defectiveness in the B.-S. classifica- 
tion. In general, however, the results speak more 
strongly for the validity of the B.-S. scale than 
against it. 

(4) The test, in any case, is a valuable test for 
purposes of diagnosis or classification. Whether it 
is preferable to base the number of facts reproduced 
on the logical units, following B.-S., or on phrase or 
thought unities, has not yet been determined. The 
scoring can be made both qualitative and quantita- 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 83 

tive. Possibly the best plan is to base tbe scores on 
single-idea unities, and scale the scores according to 
the relative significance of the items (a combined 
qualitative and quantitative measure). 

Mamiometry. 

The strength of grip (Table XIX) likewise in- 
creases with the degree of intelligence, although the 
gain with these patients is by no means always regu- 
lar, as is most easily seen by referring to Graph VII. 
For the right hand there are four exceptions each for 
the general population, boys and girls ; three each for 
the men and adults, and two each for the children and 
women. For the left hand there are four exceptions 
among the women and girls, three among the men 
and adults, two among the boys and entire popula- 
tion, and one among the children. Apparently the 
gains are more consistent for the left than for the 
right hand, and for the children than for the adults. 
By tabulating, as in Table XX, the amount of the 
gains and losses in each age from V to XIII, we not 
only see more readily the irregularity of the increase 
from age to age, but we also perceive that the sums 
of the average gains for the boys, girls, men and 
women, after the losses have been deducted, are 
somewhat larger for the right than for the left hand 
(8.4 as against 5.5 kg., whence the more intelligent, 
the stronger relatively is the right hand) ; that the 
children gain more relatively with the right hand 
than do the adults ; that the boys gain relatively more 
with the left, but the girls with the right hand ; that 
the men gain more than the women, and that in all 
cases the strength of both hands is less for the XIII- 
year-olds than for the Xll-year-olds. 



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VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 85 



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86 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

It would be important to know how far these pecu- 
liarities or irregularities are due to the small number 
of subjects tested in certain ages. 

The difference between Ages III and XIII for the 
entire population is 12.9 for the right hand and 15.3 
kg. for the left hand; the corresponding differences 
between the imbecile and moron groups are 11.6 and 
12.2. That the gain of the morons over the imbeciles 
is not uniformly greater for the left hand is seen 
from the following tabulation : 

TABLE XXI. 

The Amounts in Kg. hy which Morons excel Imhemles in Strength of 
Grip (based on Table XIX). 

Right Hand. Left Hand. 

Boys 13.1 kg. 14.1 

Girls 10.6 7.9 

Children 13.6 13.2 

Men 9.3 11.2 

Women 8.0 5.5 

Adults 10.8 10.2 

The gain of the high-grade over the low-grade 
patients is relatively larger for the boys than for the 
girls, and for the children than for the adults. 

With respect to the comparative strength of the 
right and the left hands, the evidence is conflicting. 
The general average for the left hand is .5 kg. higher 
(index of right-handedness = 1.01%). It is higher 
for the boys (index = 1.03%) and women (index = 
1.02%), and lower for the girls (96%) and men 
(98%). Among the morons it is higher for the boys 
(1.02%) and men (1.01%), and lower for the girls 
(92%) and women (99%) ; and among the imbeciles 
higher for the girls (1.03%) and women (1.10%), 
and lower for the boys (99%) and men (96%). The 
index is about the same in the two groups. The aver- 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 87 

ages for the boys are higher for the left hand in five 
individual ages, lower in three, and equal in three : 
for the girls they are higher in half the ages ; for the 
men, higher in six ages and lower in five; for the 
women, higher in seven and lower in four; for the 
children, higher in half the ages, and for the adults 
they are higher in six ages and lower in four. It is 
apparent, therefore, that the left-hand grip is 
stronger in some epileptics and the right-hand grip 
in others, with the odds rather in favor of the left 
hand. It has been claimed that degenerates have a 
stronger left-hand grip, but the rule is by no means 
invariable, at least so far as epileptics are concerned. 
For normals the right-hand grip has been found 
superior, the index varying from 81 to 96%. This 
contrasts with our index for the entire population, 
1.01%. But there are probably exceptions among 
normal persons also. 

If the dynamometry results leave us in doubt re- 
garding some points, the superior strength of the 
epileptic boys and men is unmistakable, just as 
among normal persons. There is no significant ex- 
ception in any column. The superiority of the boys, 
compared with the girls, amounts to 8 kg. for the 
right hand and 9.7 for the left, and the superiority of 
the men, compared with the women, amounts to 16 
and 14.9 kg. for the two hands, respectively. The 
difference is not only large, but the male superiority 
is relatively greater among the men than among the 
boys. Among normals, likewise, it has been found 
that the divergence grows more marked from the 
time of puberty. 

Likewise the difference between the moron males 
and females is greater than between the imbecile 



88 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

males and females, as indicated by these figures : the 
right and the left-hand grips of the boy imbeciles 
surpass those of the girl imbeciles by 6.2 and 5.6 kg. ; 
for the adults the corresponding figures are 15.0 and 
11.7. But the grips among the boy morons exceed 
those of the girl morons by 8.9 and 11.8 ; the corre- 
sponding figures for the adults are 16.3 and 17.3 kg. 
Analogous results, I believe, obtain among young 
and old normal children. In the imbecile group the 
difference is greater for the right than the left hand, 
while the reverse is the case among the morons. The 
sex-difference is thus less in the young and the intel- 
lectually inferior than in the more mature and intel- 
lectually superior. 

Another unmistakable fact is the superior strength 
in all the groups of the adults as compared with the 
children. In the general averages this superiority 
amounts to 7.5 and 7.7 kg. for the right and left 
hands, respectively; in the moron group the corre- 
sponding differences are 5.1 and 5.4, and in the imbe- 
cile group 7.9 and 8.4 kg. It thus appears that many 
epileptics grow physically stronger as they pass 
from childhood to adulthood. How long this increase 
continues among normal persons has not been deter- 
mined. 

Summarising, we may say : 

(1) The dynamometer test reveals significant sex 
and maturity differences, and differences between the 
right and left hands. The males are stronger than 
the females, whether epileptic or normal ; the adults 
and the morons among epileptics relatively more so 
than the children and the imbeciles. The absolute 
strength is greater for the adults and morons: the 
younger and inferior (lower grade) are relatively 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 89 

nearer together than the older and intellectually 
superior. The left-hand grip is stronger with some 
epileptics, the right with others; but altogether the 
left hand is apparently slightly stronger, as seen 
most clearly in Graph VII. The index, 1.01%, is 
quite different from the normal index, from 91 to 
96%. It is seen that the epileptics approximate a 
condition of ambidextrality, just as dull and feeble 
persons do. The latter have ''two left hands" 
(Binet and Yaschide). A positive correlation has 
also been asserted between dextrality and intel- 
lectual ability for normal children (Smedley). 

(2) There is an increase in the strength of grip 
with increasing B.-S. ages, but the increase from age 
to age is not entirely regular. Tliis indicates either 
that the B.-S. classification is not entirely correct, or 
that epileptics do not follow the rule obtaining 
among normal persons, who show an increase with 
each chronological age (Smedley), or that the irregu- 
larities may be due to the fewness of the patients in 
some ages. The gains with increasing age are 
greater for the boys than for the girls, for the chil- 
dren than for the adults, and for the right than for 
the left hand (although the difference between the 
low grade and the high grade subjects appears to be 
greater for the left hand). 

(3) Our results are in harmony with the finding 
for public school children, that the most intellectual 
are the strongest (Carman, Smedley, Schuyten). 

(4) Dynamometry is a valuable test for purposes 
of diagnosis ; its value for purposes of mental classi- 
fication and for testing the accuracy of intelligence 
scales needs to be determined with greater accuracy 
with normal persons. So important has the grip 



90 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OB' MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

(hand grasp) of an individual been considered that 
Barr regards it as more indicative of capacity than 
the language test : hand grasp and mental grasp go 
hand in hand (Mental Defectives, 1910, p. 162).^ 

Ataxia graphic Sway. 

An examination of Table XXII and Graph VIII 
shows that there is diminution with increasing B.-S. 
age of the bodily sway, both lateral and antero-pos- 
terior, but that this diminution is by no means regu- 
lar from year to year. Nevertheless, if we examine 
the averages for the two groups, we find that the 
sway is less for the morons than for the imbeciles, 
with one exception (females, eyes shut). From Table 
XXIII, it appears that the group difference will vary 
from nearly zero to almost 20 mm., that the differ- 
ence in absolute terms is larger with the eyes shut 
than with the eyes open (one exception), that the 
difference for antero-posterior is larger than for the 
lateral sway, and that the sex-difference is only ap- 
parent with the eyes fixated. 

TABLE XXIII. 

Amounts by which the Ataxiagraphic Sway of Imbeciles exceeds that 
of Morons (based on Table XXII). 

r-Byea shut-^ . r-Eyes fixated— ^ 

A.-P. Lat. A.-P. Lat. 

Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. 

Entire population 16.9 14.8 11.6 7.7 

Males 13.5 12.0 9.1 21.9 

Females 15.0 12.1 15.1 — .8 

From Table XXIV, which gives the difference be- 
tween the absolute sway of the males and the fe- 
males (a positive number indicating that the sway 

*In a later contribution the dynamometry data will be tabulated ac- 
cording to chronological ages and compared with normal i>er£ormance8. 



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92 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

is larger for the females ; a negative, larger for the 
males), it appears that, while the difference between 
the sexes is not very considerable in most cases, the 
sway is larger for the females than for the males. 

TABLE XXIV. 
Sex Differences in Ataxiagraphic Sway {based on Table XXII). 

^Eyes shut-^ ^Eyes fixated-s 
A. -P. Lat. A.-P. Lat. 

Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. 

Average of all ages — .5 4.9 2.2 2.6 

Morons —1.1 3.4 —1.7 12.5 

Explanations of signs above. 

The exceptions are the antero-posterior sway, eyes 
shut, both groups; and eyes fixated, morons. This 
seems to show that there is an ataxiagraphic sex- 
difference in epileptics associated with the lateral 
direction (larger relatively to the antero-posterior 
sway for females than for males). The exceptions 
can be gleaned from Table XXII. 

To summarize: 

(1) Apparently the ataxiagraphic sway varies 
with the sex, and with the eyes shut and open. It is 
slightly larger for female than male epileptics, par- 
ticularly in the lateral direction. The closing of the 
eyes accentuates the sway in both directions, more 
for the low than for the high grade cases. 

(2) The antero-posterior sway is usually consid- 
erably larger than the lateral, as is strikingly ap- 
parent in the Graph VIII, for eyes fixated. 

(3) The ataxiagrams are clearly smaller for the 
moron than for the imbecile group, so that there ap- 
pears to be a difference dependent upon the degree 
of intelligence. But the dependence is not very pre- 
cise, as the diminution of the sway from year to year 
is not very regular. 

(4) This is a valuable test for diagnosis in vari- 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 93 

ous conditions, but before we are justified in using 
the test for purposes of intellectual classification or 
for checking intelligence scales it must first be dem- 
onstrated that the bodily sway among normal per- 
,sons varies witli the degree of intelligence/ 

Analysis of the Mean Vaeiations. 

As a measure of the reliability of averages or the 
uniformity between the separate counts, whether 
averages or single determinations, which make up a 
series of determinations, we may use the mean vari- 
ation (M. v.). The reliability of the central tend- 
ency varies inversely with the size of the relative 
M. V. If the M. V. is large in relation to the size of 
the average {i. e., if the relative M. V., or coefficient 
of variability, is large), the average possesses little 
reliability. Likewise, if the measurements of a given 
trait from numbers of subjects grouped in the same 
mental age vary considerably, it follows that the test 
in question is not properly placed (not well attuned 
to its correct age) or that the variation is normally so 
large for the given trait that the test is worthless as 
a norm for a given age. It is clear that, in the very 
nature of the case, a norm is normative by reason of 
the fact that it indicates, within a certain range of 
variability, the expected performance for the age to 
which it is assigned. The larger the variability, the 
larger is the uncertainty of the norm; if the varia- 
bility is as large as the average, the latter, of course, 
fails utterly to represent any central tendency. At 
the same time, one must recognize that mental meas- 

^In a later publication the ataxiagraphic data will be tabulated ac- 
cording to chronological age, and compared with the ataxiagrams for 
normal persons. 



94 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

urement is concerned with the determination of tend- 
encies, not of absolute constants, and that a certain 
degree of variability of performance is thus per- 
fectly normal. 

The M. V. of a series of determinations is not very 
reliable unless the series contains a reasonable num- 
ber of observations. Because our number of sub- 
jects is small in some of the ages, it will be advisable 
to confine the analysis to the larger averages. The 
details may be left to the reader to glean from the 
tables. 

The coefficient of variability in the time required 
to name the four colors amounted to 28% for the en- 
tire population, 26% for the boys, 36% for the girls, 
39% for the women, and 57% for the men. In the 
amount of irregularity the boys rank highest and the 
men lowest. The M. V. is larger for the imbeciles 
than for the morons. The variation is considerable 
in all the ages, and in Age VIII, in which the test is 
placed, it is even larger (37%) than for the general 
average. 

The coefficient of variability in the time needed to 
utter sixty ivords amounted to 25% for the entire 
population, 18% for the boys, 22% for the women, 
28% for the girls, and 33% for the men. Here, again, 
the boys are the most regular and the men the least. 
The M. V. is considerable in most of the ages, and 
in Age XI, to which the test is assigned, it amounts 
to 24%, as compared with 13% for Age XII, the age 
to which it has been transferred in Binet's latest 
revision, and the age in which it is satisfactorily 
passed by our j3atients. 

The coefficient of variability in reading capacity, 
based on time, amounted to 28% for the entire popu- 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 95 

lation and for the women, 26% for the girls, 29% for 
the boys, and 31% for the men. While the male sex 
appears to be the most variable, the differences are 
not very material. The amount of the variation dif- 
fers greatly in the different columns, but it is usually 
considerable in each age. In the ages in which the 
test is placed, VIII and IX, the coefficients are consid- 
erably larger than any of the above figures, namely, 
41 and 50%, respectively. Even in Ages X, XI and 
XII, the coefficients amount to 60, 31 and 42%, so that 
while the average reading time diminishes with age, 
the variation among individuals continues large — a 
fact of common observation. 

That the amount of irregularity is partly due to 
the presence of a few very slow readings is indicated 
by the fact that the medians are uniformly and con- 
siderably smaller than the averages in Ages IX, X, 
XI and Xin. 

The coefficient of variability in memory capacity 
(memories from reading test) is 25% for the entire 
population, 15% for the boys, 24% for the girls, and 
30% for the men and women. This points to a greater 
regularity, or homogeneity, of memory-capacity 
among the boys and a less regularity among the 
adults. In this respect the epileptic adults are obvi- 
ously much like the senile adults among normal per- 
sons. We have already seen that memory capacity 
among the children, as measured by the number of 
units retained, excels that of the adults. The size of 
the M. V.'s varies a great deal in the various ages 
and columns. The coefficient is 27% in Age VIII, in 
which the average number of memories is 3.7, instead 
of 2 as required by B.-S., and 27% in Age IX, in 
which there are 4.8 memories instead of six as re- 



96 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

quired by the scale. This indicates (1) that the dif- 
ference in reproductive capacity between VIII and 
IX is not so large as indicated in the scale, at least 
for epileptics, and (2) that the variation for these 
ages is even larger than for the general average. On 
the other hand, the coefficients of variability in Ages 
XI and XII are only 17 and 19%, respectively. 

The variability in the test of motor performance — 
the form-hoard — amounted to 24% for the entire 
population, 25% for the women, 27% for the boys, 
39% for the men, and 47% for the girls. Here the 
greater regularity in the boy and woman groups is 
manifest. The same truth appears if we confine the 
comparison to the morons : boys, 16% ; women, 16% ; 
men, 17%, and girls, 21%. The differences are slight, 
however. It is noticeable that the absolute M. V. is 
considerably smaller (at least in two cases) for the 
morons than for the imbeciles, and that the absolute 
M. V. decreases markedly with age. The exceptions 
are probably due to the fewness of the subjects. The 
variability is 14% for Age IX, 18% for Age X, 10% 
for Age XI, and 7% for Age XII. If we assume that 
the regularity of performance of a given activity 
increases with age, it appears that the patients are 
fairly well classified. 

The coefficients of variability for the right and left 
hand grips are shown in Table XXV. 

TABLE XXV. 
Coefficients of Variability in Hand Dynamometry. 

Right. Left. 

Entire population 20% 20% 

Boys 24 24 

Girls 25 23 

Men 13 15 

Women 16 17 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 97 

It appears that the irregularity is about the same 
for the right and left hands, for the girls and boys, 
for the men and women, and considerably less for the 
adults than for the children. The coefficient is con- 
siderably less for the morons than for the imbeciles, 
the percentages for the right hand being, respec- 
tively, 16 and 25, and for the left hand 14 and 26. 
(Among normals the variability has been found 
greater in early adolescence than at any other time.) 

The relative M. V. 's for the body sway are shown 
in Table XXVI. 

TABLE XXVI. 

Coefficients of Variability in Ataxia^raphic Sway. 

r-Eyes shut-s r-Eyes fiiate(l-\ 
A.-P. L. A.-P. L. 

Entire population 24 29 24 34 

Males 27 29 23 28 

Females 21 30 33 34 

It is seen that, without exception, there is among 
these patients less relative variation in the antero- 
posterior than in the lateral sway ; that the variation 
is not materially different, whether the eyes are 
closed or fixated, and that the differences between 
the males and the females do not seem to follow any 
rule. 

General Conclusions and Comparisons. 

1. In most of the above tests there are maturity 
differences, that is, differences between the period 
of childhood and adulthood. The epileptic children 
excel in the color test (better average and lower M. 
v.), the 60-word test (better average and better 
gains), and the memory test (higher average and 
lower M. V.) ; and the adults excel in the reading 
test (better average), the form-board test (better 



98 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

average), and the dynamometer test (better average 
and lower M. V.)- Accordingly, an adult who grades, 
say, X years mentally is not the same intellectually 
as a child with a X-year mind. The results, however, 
seem to show that the differences are not so large 
but that a common scale can be legitimately used for 
both children and adults — unless, indeed, the differ- 
ences are larger among normal than abnormal 
persons. 

Whether the adults attain a higher intellectual sta- 
tion cannot be determined reliably from the data in 
this chapter, but must be ascertained from the table 
of distribution in Chapter I. In tliis table it appears 
clearly that the adults reach a higher status : there 
are appreciably more child than adult idiots (3.7% 
more) and imbeciles (14.3%), but appreciably less 
child morons (11.8%) and normals, retardates or de- 
viates (5.3%). 

The inference from the mere curve of distribution, 
however, involves a certain source of error, because 
there are nine children chronologically less than thir- 
teen years of age who do not grade as feeble-minded 
by the B.-S. scale (that is, they are retarded less than 
three years). These children, therefore, belong to 
the group of normals or deviates, but could not be so 
classified because they failed to satisfy the thirteen- 
year standard. But it is probable that if due allow- 
ance is made for tliis error, the conclusion will still 
stand that the adults are intellectually superior to 
the children. It would thus appear that the average 
epileptic, in spite of the dementing tendency of the 
disease, makes intellectual progress from childhood 
to adulthood — ^unless, perchance, the onset of the at- 
tacks occurred late in life or unless the attacks were 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 99 

more than ordinarily light in the case of this group 
of adults, both of which suppositions are improbable. 
From this fact we may conclude that institutions for 
epileptics should be made genuine training schools, 
not mere asylums. 

2. There are likewise sex differences in most of 
these traits. The females excel in the color test (in 
average speed, although the M. V. is less for the 
boys), the reading test (average and M. V.), and the 
60- word test (average, and gains for girls; but the 
men also have a high average), and the males excel 
in the form-board test (particularly in the average 
for the high-grade patients, and in the average and 
M. V. for the boy morons ; but the women also have 
a low M. v.), the memory test (average, and M. V. 
for boys), the dynamometer test (average, and also 
gains for boys), and the ataxiagraph test (average 
extent of sway). It is seen that the epileptic males 
excel in more tests than the epileptic women, and 
that the best single group is that of the moron boys. 

These results are confirmed by three other facts. 
First, by the table of distribution (Chapter I), which 
contains a larger percentage of high-grade males 
than females. Although there are slightly more 
male than female idiots (.7% more), the male imbe- 
ciles are fewer (by 7%), while the male morons (by 
4.8%) and male retardates (1.4%) are more numer- 
ous. Likewise if we consider the separate columns, 
there are less men than women idiots (by 2.1%) and 
imbeciles (by 2.4%), but more men morons (by 3.1%) 
and retardates (by 1.3%) ; and there are more boy 
than girl idiots (by 5.7%), but decidedly less boy im- 



100 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

beciles (by 20.8%) and decidedly more boy morons 
(11.5%) and retardates (3%). The obvious superi- 
ority of the boys is confirmed by the above figures, 
although a relatively large percentage of the idiots 
are boys. 

A second means of corroboration is to determine 
the relative station of the boys and girls by calculat- 
ing the number of years of retardation for each child, 
that is, the number of years between the child's 
chronological age and his B.-S. age. This could not 
very well be calculated for the adults, partly because 
the B.-S. scale does not extend beyond Age XIII (we 
have no other satisfactory tests for the higher ages 
that have yet been standardized), and partly because 
the attempt would involve a certain absurdity. Let 
us assume that two adults, respectively 30 and 40 
years old, just grade XX years by a serial intelli- 
gence scale. We should not thereby be able to say 
that the 30-year-old is retarded 10 years intellec- 
tually in the same sense in which a 13-year-old grad- 
ing III years is retarded 10 years, since the increase 
in intellectual capacity from 20 to 30 would very 
probably not amount to 10 years. It would be less 
than the difference between 3 and 13. Nor, again, 
should we be able to say that our 40-year-old was 
retarded twice as much as our 30-year-old, for ordi- 
narily for the average person there is probably little 
increase in intellectual strength from 30 to 40 (there 
would, of course, be a great increase in erudition on 
the part of the studious). Hence, our 40-year-old 
would be retarded only slightly more than our 30- 
year-old. 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 101 

Fnrthermoi'e, in restricting the following tabula- 
tion to the children, it is well to point out certain pos- 
sible errors. The amount of retardation is probably 
somewhat exaggerated in the case of those who pass 
the tests of the higher ages, as the norms are prob- 
ably too difficult. Nor, following the above reason- 
ing, does a unit of retardation mean exactly the same 
thing throughout the scale. The difference between, 
say, Ages II and III is larger than between Ages XII 
and XIII. A 20-year-old person who passes only 
Age XII, and a 12-year-old child who passes Age IV, 
would both be rated as eight years retarded, but the 
eight years from 4 to 12 almost certainly represent 
a larger difference than the eight years from 12 to 
20. Moreover, the retardation is probably exagger- 
ated for the few who pass Age XIII, because these 
few might have gone higher, but there was no means 
of determining this by the scale. 

In Table XXVII the children are arranged in their 
chronological (actual) ages from 5 to 20, and the 
average amount of retardation is given in years for 
the patients of the same chronological ages. In 
Table XXVIII the amount of retardation is averaged 
for the children in each B.-S. age. The grouping in 
Table XXVII is based on chronological age, and in 
Table XXVIII on B.-S. ages. 

Here we see that the boys are retarded less than 
the girls: in Table XXVII by 0.8 of a year for the 
general average and by 0.9 for the average of ages 
14 to 20 (with only two exceptions in the individual 
ages) ; and in Table XX VIII by one year for the gen- 
eral average (with three exceptions in the individual 



102 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 



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VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 103 

ages). The superiority of the boys, whichever 
method of tabulation is considered, thus amounts, in 
round terms, to one year/ 

Finally, if we average the M. V.'s in all tests 
(ataxiagraphic excepted), we get the following re- 
sults : 

Boys. Girls. Children. Men. Women. Adults. Males. Females. 
23.1 30.9 27.0 34.0 26.7 30.3 28.5 28.8% 



There is no difference between the males and fe- 
males, although the men are inferior and the boys 
distinctly superior. 

Altogether we may say, then, with confidence, that 
the males, and particularly the boys, in this group of 
epileptics, are superior to the females — a fact of 
common observation at the institution. Further 
study would determine whether this conclusion is 
valid for epileptics generally. The conclusion is ob- 
viously of interest, because, so far as concerns the 
children, one would expect the girls to surpass the 

^Attention may be directed incidentally to a number of other facts 
which appear in the above tables. Thus the amount of retardation in 
general becomes greater as the child grows older, which is evident 
from the fact that the figures grow larger in the higher chronological 
ages in Table XXVII. This indicates a progressive loss of intelli- 
gence with increasing age, relative to the normal improvement, quite 
analogous to the progressive loss in manuometry exhibited by juvenile 
delinquents — unless, forsooth, this loss can be accounted for by the 
considerations advanced above. It seems natural that the normal child 
should outstrip the defective more and more, so that the gap between 
them becomes progressively larger. 

On the other hand, the loss with increasing B.-S. ages becomes less 
and less, the average for Ages I to VII (idiots and imbeciles) being 
10.1 and for Ages VIII to XIII (morons and retardates), 5. The pro- 
gressive loss here is, no doubt, due to the fact that few children at the 
institution were under seven years of age. 

The feeble-minded status of the group is emphasized by the fact 
that the average amount of retardation is over 7 years. Yet there 
were 4 girls and 5 boys who were merely backward (retarded less 
than three years). 



104 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

boys, since they mature earlier, and because it does 
not square with public-school statistics of retarda- 
tion, promotion, elimination and repetition. A study 
of fifteen city school systems showed that there were 
more retardates and repeaters among the boys than 
among the girls {137o more of each), and a larger 
percentage of elimination (17%) and non-promotion 
(Ayres). Either these findings do not apply to epi- 
leptic children, or otherwise our group has been spe- 
cially selected in some way. Apparently the disease 
(epilepsy) plays greater intellectual havoc with girls 
than with boys. 

On the other hand, our findings agree with the gen- 
eralization that there is a larger percentage of males 
at both extremes of the human scale — more very low- 
grade men (idiots) than low-grade women^ and more 
very high-grade men (geniuses) than high-grade 
women. The Germans, it is said, have a name for 
boy geniuses, but not for girl geniuses. 

Having these sex-differences in mind, a question of 
moment confronts us : Can we measure the intelli- 
gence of boys and girls accurately by the same scale? 
It would be unwise to attempt to answer this ques- 
tion on the basis of our results with epileptics. It is 
enough to say that our results emphasize the neces- 
sity of a thorough experimental study of the ques- 
tion. 

3. The results indicate that the B.-S. scale is 
rather more satisfactory than appeared from the 
facts adduced in Chapter 11. "While it does not scale 
different grades of intelligence with the degree of 
accuracy which would be desired, it does enable us to 
grade and classify defective individuals far more 
rapidly and satisfactorily than would be possible 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 105 

hy the ordinary methods of observation. The facts 
which perhaps tell more strongly against than for 
the accuracy of the scale are the averages in the 
color, dynamometry and ataxiagraphic tests, and the 
coefficients of variability. The latter range from 
15% to 57%, and average almost 30%. Mental 
measurements, of course, are always variables, but 
the variations in our results seem to be rather too 
large. In many psychological measurements a varia- 
tion of from 10 to 15% is considered large. Perhaps 
we may fix 25% as the maximal permissible coefficient 
of variability. But we need to determine hy experi- 
mental means what should constitute a normal or 
maximal coefficient of variability for normal age- 
groups (normal persons). At the present time we 
are unable to assign any definite value to the age 
norm of variation (M. V. norm).^ No one, however, 
need be deterred from using the scale before this 
work has been done. Whatever its imperfections, it 
affords a practical, easily administered, objective, 
systematic method of grading defective children and 
adults, which, while not as yet maximally accurate, 
approximately locates the mental station of the indi- 
vidual. At the same time we must not blind our- 

^Courtis tested 23 eighth-grade pupils, the survivals of eight years 
of "passing" on a 70% basis (and therefore presumably closely graded), 
and found the relative M. V.'s to amount to 18% in an addition speed 
test, "3% in age, 7% in handwriting, * * * \o% in formal Eng- 
lish grammar, 26% in height, 30% in memory of important dates and 
men, 60% in ability to reproduce after 24 hours the main points of a 
historical passage read once in class" (S. A. Courtis, Measurement of 
Groveth and Efficiency in Arithmetic, The Elementary School Teacher, 
II : 1911, p. 533). We shall be in no position to pass on the efficiency 
of the grading in graded schools until we have grade-norms of variabil- 
ity similar to the age-norms of which we have spoken above. In a 
serial investigation during the past year of various mental traits, I 
found surprisingly large M.V's, both in respect to the age and grade 
standards. 



106 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

selves to the necessity of revising and improving the 
scale. 

4. The data presented here will help us to a bet- 
ter understanding, not only of epileptic and other 
types of abnormal minds, but of normal persons as 
well, as soon as similar data are obtained from other 
surveys. Here we can take space for three brief 
comparisons only. 

According to B.-S., the time required to read the 
fifty-three words about a fire was as follows for the 
ages indicated : Age VIII, 45 sec. ; IX, 40 sec. ; X, 30 
sec; and XI, 25 sec. Comparison with the corre- 
sponding ages in Table XI shows that the epileptics 
of VIII, IX and X required considerably more time 
(the times were 86.5, 61.9 and 44.6 sec, respectively), 
while the Xl-year-old epileptics required about the 
same amount of time — indeed, if we consider the 
medians, the time was actually shorter for the X- and 
Xl-year-old ejDileptics than for the normals. Here 
is probably a specific retardation effect incident to 
the disease (epilepsy). The epileptic children ac- 
quire the reading art more slowly than do normal 
children ; in fact, more slowly than the above figures 
indicate, because many of those who graded X and 
XI were chronologically from 12 or 13 to 18 or 20 
years old. 

The following were the seconds consumed by the 
feeble-minded patients at Vineland in replacing the 
blocks in the form-hoard for each B.-S. age (accord- 
ing to figures supplied directly by Goddard) : 



II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


IX 


X 


XI 


XII 


150 


90 


70 


40 


35 


29 


20 


19 


19 


17 


15 



It is seen from Table XIII that the feeble-minded 
reacted more rapidly than the epileptic in all ages up 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 107 

to and including IX, in some ages very considerably 
faster, but that from Ages X to XII the epileptics 
slightly excelled. The higher-grade epileptics thus 
react pretty much like the higher-grade feeble- 
minded in the corresponding ages. It should be 
stated that the epileptics were tested when they were 
in their normal condition, and not in a state of 
stupor. In the latter condition the reactions would 
be markedly lengthened or would cease entirely. 

Finally, comparison for memory of digits may be 
made with Jacob's norms for London school children. 
He pronounced series of digits to about thirty pupils 
in each age from 8 to 19. The pupils wrote what they 
retained. The following averages are based on the 
highest number reproduced :^ 



Age. 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


19 


Ave. 


6.6 


6.7 


6.8 


7.2 


7.4 


7.3 


7.3 


7.7 


8.0 


8.0 


8.6 


8.6 



From these figures it appears that memory norms 
for digits cannot be established for each age. They 
seem to be approximately the same for several ages : 
8 to 10 (6 digits), 11 to 15 (7 digits), and 16 to 19 (8 
digits). It would not be profitable at this time to 
enter upon a discussion of age-norms for digits in 
the light of these and other available data. To es- 
tablish these norms upon a satisfactory basis far 
more children in each chronological age must be 
tested than has hitherto been done. 

5. As may be seen by a cursory glance at the 
graphs, there is a continuity of variation in all the 
single traits tested, within the limits of the ages 
plotted, for epileptics. The variations cluster around 

*Cf. G. E. Johnson, "Contribution to the Psychology and Pedagogy 
of Feeble-Minded Children," Pedagogical Seminary, 3 : 1895, 268-273. 



108 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

one type or mode (subject to certain irregularities in 
some of the traits), and it is entirely probable that 
this one-type pattern of distribution would not be 
altered were the records of normal subjects included. 
It is impossible to group these traits in epileptics 
into disparate classes, separated by intervening 
gaps : they vary continuously from lowest to high- 
est. Accordingly, the epileptic is not ' ' abnormal" in 
respect to these traits in the sense that he constitutes 
a distinct type, a species apart from ordinary indi- 
viduals. With all his exaggerated ''variation" or 
"individuality," he still shares with the rest of us 
a ' ' common humanity, ' ' the common humanity of the 
race. He is not essentially different in kind from the 
ordinary person. What appears to be a qualitative 
difference is probably an exaggerated quantitative 
difference, because the traits of the epileptic fall 
within the surfaces of distribution for the human 
kind. He occupies the lower extreme of the surface. 
(It should be said that I am leaving out of the ac- 
count the lowest-grade epileptics, who are not in- 
cluded in our "trait" curves, and that the curves 
may be considered only indirectly as distribution 
surfaces.) 
In conclusion : 

The great need of a simple, objective scale for in- 
tellectually grading defective school children and 
juvenile (also adult) delinquents, for measuring the 
extent of involution changes produced by dementing 
psychoses, and for classifying institutional cases of 
mental defectives of whatever kind, and the present 
conspicuous lack of a generally accepted or satisfac- 
tory method, is recognized on every hand. Neither 
the educator, the alienist, the criminologist nor the 



VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 109 

judge have at their ready disposal a valid method 
for locating mental station and classifying individ- 
uals according to degree of mental defect. A graded 
diagnostic scale of intellectual development com- 
mends itself because of its great practical utility, 
even though less valuable for the purpose of exact 
scientific diagnosis. Because of the present consid- 
erable utility of the Binet- Simon scale, and its 
greater prospective utility, to all students who have 
to do with deviating individuals, no pains should be 
spared to ferret out its present imperfections, so 
that an improved scale may gradually be evolved. 
Until this has been done we may continue to use the 
present scale, confident that there is no other single 
instrument available which gives us a superior pre- 
liminary survey of a defective or mentally deviating 
individual — a conclusion already emphasized by the 
writer elsewhere.^ 

At the same time it is necessary to sound a note of 
warning: the function of the B.-S., or any other 
graded scale of intelligence, is to give us a prelimi- 
nary, and not a final survey or rating of the indi- 
vidual who may be tested. The B.-S. testing is not 
to be regarded as a finality, but merely as a point of 
departure for further diagnosis. It gives us the 
first, and not the final word about an individual's 
mental status. Once the individual's mental station 
has been preliminarily and roughly determined by a 
graded intelligence scale, there remains the more 
difficult task of making a detailed, expert diagnosis 
for each case and a diagnosis of each fundamental 
trait or capacity. 

*The New Clinical Psychology and the Psycho-Clinicist, Journal of 
Educational Psychology, 2 : 1911, 121 and 191. 



110 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

It is folly to suppose that any ordinary grade 
teacher who has taken a summer course in clinical 
psychology, or that any professional expert whatso- 
ever who lacks technical training in psycho-clinical 
or psychiatric methodology, is prepared to mentally 
diagnose defective or deviating individuals, or to 
conduct psycho-clinical research, or to extend the 
boundaries of clinical psychology. It would be no 
more absurd to expect a teacher or preacher or law- 
yer or old-line experimental psychologist to diagnose 
human disease from reading a book on medical diag- 
nosis. The idea, unfortunately, seems rapidly to be 
gaining ground that anyone, be he grade teacher, 
introspective psychologist, practicing lawyer or gen- 
eral medical practitioner, is able to make psychologi- 
cal diagnoses by putting the child through a few stock 
psychological tests. Nothing is more preposterous. 
The ability to make psycho-clinical examinations and 
diagnoses requires as high an order of trained skill as 
the ability to make neurological or general physical 
examinations and diagnoses. All that can reason- 
ably be expected from grade teachers, or anyone who 
has not had considerable first-hand experience in the 
mental examination of various kinds of mental de- 
fectives, is that they acquire sufficient skill to give 
certain standard tests, like those of Binet and Simon, 
according to directions. It is visionary to suppose 
that a differential diagnosis of cases can be made by 
a few routine tests. The results of such testing do 
have one value, however: they contribute valuable 
preliminary data for a later individual differential 
diagnosis by an experienced mental examiner. Clin- 
ical psychology will more speedily become a genuine 
science of the behavior of individual deviating and 



VARIATION OP MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 111 

abnormal persons, and will develop a practically use- 
ful art of orthogenics, if we recognize at the outset 
that the problems of this science are extremely com- 
plex, complicated and baffling, and that they can be 
adequately handled only by trained experts. 



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70 




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VARIATION OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS 113 



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114 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 



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CHAPTER IV. 

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 
BINET-SIMON SCALE FOR MEASURING INTELLIGENCE.^ 

Various considerations have constrained me to 
prepare this guide. First, results derived from the 
application of the B.-S. scale to various classes of 
defectives will have no comparative value unless uni- 
formity is observed in the administration of the 
tests. Discrepancies in the results of different ex- 
perimenters are often entirely traceable to differ- 
ences in the method of giving the tests. Naturally, 
some methods will be bad, some good and some in- 
different ; in any case, the results will generally hinge 
on the particular method used, and they will have 
little comparative value unless a standardized pro- 
cedure has been followed. In the simpler tests the 
standardization will often not need to be elaborate, 
but a minimal amount is always essential. 

Secondly, it is my experience that uniformity in 
experimental procedure is out of the question in any 
branch of psychological research unless the condi- 
tions, method and procedure are definitely and fully 
formulated. There is a peculiarly urgent need for 
explicit directions in the administration of the B.-S. 
scale, because the tests are being given by persons 
with little, if any, scientific (and particularly any 

^Reprinted, by permission, with minor alterations, from The Psy- 
chological Clinic, 5 : 1911, 217-238. 

116 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 117 

psychological) training, and wlio therefore are in no 
position to formulate a correct procedure for them- 
selves, nor to foresee or circumvent the methodologi- 
cal pitfalls which lurk in all kinds of scientific work. 
Hence, to be of practical value the directions for 
handling the B.-S. scale should be given in the form 
of a compact, condensed guide, instead of being scat- 
tered throughout a bulky text, and the procedure, the 
questions or directions, should be so formulated that 
they can be used verbatim. 

Thirdly, some of the tests have not as yet been 
sufficiently detailed, conditioned or standardized, 
obviously because this cannot be satisfactorily done 
a priori, but only after extensive testing. The scale 
has now been used and criticised somewhat freely, so 
that we are in a position to improve the procedure at 
various points and to offer various suggestions. In 
doing this it is advisable to proceed along conserva- 
tive lines and disregard such suggestions as have not 
been subjected to the test of experience. 

Fourthly, as shown in the preceding pages, the 
1908 scale itself, aside from the procedure, is imper- 
fect at various points, whence, while these imperfec- 
tions are not such as to render the 1908 scale worth- 
less, there is imperative need to carry forward the 
work of revision and improvement, so that we may 
eventually obtain a maximally reliable scale. But 
this work (with normal children, of course) cannot 
be satisfactorily done unless a fairly uniform and 
standardized procedure is followed ; without this we 
can expect nothing but conflict and discrepancy. It 
does not seem advisable to revise the 1908 scale for 
American use until it has been more extensively tried 
out in accordance with a standardized procedure. 



118 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

The 1911 revisions do not commend themselves to the 
writer. Elsewhere^ the suggestion has been made 
that workers who use the B.-S. tests for research 
purposes should publish their results in terms of the 
complete, standardized 1908 scale. 

It is in the hope of aiding the work of standardiz- 
ing the experimental procedure that the following 
guide has been prepared — not as a finality, but as a 
practical pathfinder. The attempt has been made to 
outline the procedure which I have found most satis- 
factory, but advantage has also been taken of the 
suggestions of other writers. To explain why one 
form of procedure should be used and another 
avoided, or to enter upon an explanation or justifica- 
tion of the tests themselves, would require more 
space than is here available. It is intended to make 
this guide supplement, rather than supplant, the 
statements or texts already extant. It may reason- 
ably be expected that anyone who intends to use the 
scale should familiarize himself with at least the 
English versions.* 

I have followed the 1908 series, except that the 

'J. E. Wallace Wallin. Danger Signals in Clinical and Applied 
Psychology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2 : 1911, 224. 

'Cf. BiNET ET Simon. Le Developpment de VintelUgence chez lea 
enfants. Ann^e Psychologique, Tome XIV. Otto Bobebtag. Ueber 
Intelligenzprufungen {nach der Methode von Binet und Simon). 
Zeitschrift fiir angewandte Psychologie, 5 : 1911, pp. 105-203. Henby 
H. GoDDAED. Binefs Measuring Scale for Intelligence. The Training 
School, 6 : No. 11, 1910. E. B. HuEY, The Binet Scale for Measur- 
ing Intelligence and Retardation. The Journal of Educational Psy- 
chology, 1 : 1910, 435f. Kathebine L. Johnson. An English Ver- 
sion of M. Binefs Tests for the Measurement of Intelligence. Train- 
ing School Record, London, November, 1910. F. Kuhlmann. Binet 
and Simon's System for Measuring the Intelligence of Children. Jour- 
nal of Psycho-Asthenics, 15: 1911, Nos. 3, 4. Guy M. Whipple. 
Manual of Mental and Physical Tests. Baltimore : Warwick & York, 
Inc., 1910, Chapter 13. 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OP TESTS 119 

tests for idiocy, 1 to 6, have been added from the 1905 
series. Tests 17a and 50a have also been added. 
The order in which the tests appear corresponds 
closely with the originals. 

the binet-simon diagnostic tests of mental age 
(intellectual development). 

(Abbreviations: S = subject. E = experimenter. 
+ = passed. — = failed.) 

Name Address Born Place 

of birth Nationality Sex 

Health Physical defects Speech de- 

fects School grade School stand- 

ing (years pedagogically retarded or accel- 

erated) Examined By 

Mental condition during test Geneeal re- 

sults : passed tests of mental age Chro- 

nological (actual) age Years retarded in- 

tellectually Degeee of Mentality: Super- 

normal, NORMAL, subnormal, BACKWARD, FEEBLE- 
MINDED (Low, Middle or High Idiot; L., M., or H. 
Imbecile; L., M., or H. Moron). 

Tests for Idiocy — Mentality of 1 to 2 Years. 
Age 1. 

1. Move lighted match slowly before S's eyes (or 
ring bell from behind S). Mark -f if eyes follow or 
S listens. Watch for incoordinated eye movements. 

2. Place small block (cube) in palm of S's hand, 
with statement, ''Here is something for you." -f- if 
S grasps and handles. Prehension from tactual 
stimulation. 



120 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

3. Move colored ball or cylinder, suspended by 
string, slowly before S's face (eyes) or hands, with- 
out touching. + if S grasps and handles. 

Age 2. 

4. Hold before S, or place within S's reach, a 
piece each of candy (or cookie) and wood of equal 
size. Avoid favored position for either. + if candy 
is chosen. 

5. Wrap paper about candy in S's sight and hand 
packet to S, + if S removes paper before eating. 

6. Imitations : E extends hand for greeting as S 
enters room. '* Do as I do;" or: *'Do this way." 
E claps hands ; hands in front, on head or shoulders ; 
rises on toes, etc. 

Commands (by gestures or words) : "Sit down," 
''Stand up," "Shake hands," "Pick up" (object 
purposely dropped by E), "Give me that book." + 
if S imitates simple movements or executes simple 
commands. Watch for failure through negativism 
or stubbornness. 

Tests for Imbecility — ^Mentality of 3 to 7 Years. 

Age 3. 

7. "Where are your eyes?" "Nose?" "Mouth?" 
"Hair?" Or: "Open your mouth." "Close your 
eyes," "Touch your nose." + if S correctly points 
to parts. 

8. "Repeat" [alternative forms: "Say after 
me, " or : " See if you can say just what I say without 
making a single mistake." Or: "I'm going to read 
a sentence (or tell a little story). When I get 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OP TESTS 121 

through I want you to say it word for word, just as I 
did, without a single mistake. Now listen care- 
fully"] :— 

** *It is cold and snowing.' (Say that.) Or: 'My 
dog's name is Fido.' Or: 'In summer it is warm.' " 
E speaks slowly (not too slowly, or haltingly), dis- 
tinctly, with expression, while there is no noise and 
S is attentive. Shield sentences from S's eyes. No 
repetitions allowed. E records reproduction ver- 
batim. 

Six syllables in one sentence. Use other six syl- 
lables in single, complete, easy, concrete sentences 
if above become familiar, -f if S reproduces one of 
the three absolutely correct. (Cf. Tests 17a, 21, 58.) 

9. ''Eepeat" [''I'm going to say some numbers. 
Listen carefully, because as soon as I get through I 
want you to say them just as I did. Now listen"] : 
'7 2,' ('Say that.' Or: 'What did I sayl') ; or: 
*9 1;' or: '3 8.'" See directions under 8. If 
necessary, illustrate thus: "so when I say '8 5,' 
you must also say '8 5.' " Pronounce digits dis- 
tinctly once, as single, detached units, without ac- 
cent, one-half second apart. Avoid consecutive num- 
bers. Shield numbers from S's eyes. Two digits. 
One out of three absolutely correct passes. (Cf. 
Tests 14, 31, 50a, 56.) 

10. ' ' What do you see in this picture ? " " What 
is it about?" Or: "Look at this picture carefully 
and tell me what you see, what it is about. ' ' If nec- 
essary, urge; "anything else?" Show S only fa- 
miliar pictures in colors of people and situations, 
strongly suggestive of action. Of the Jingleman 
Jack pictures (these and all the other supplies for 



122 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

the Binet-Simon tests can be secured from C. H. 
Stoelting Company, 121 N. Green street, Chicago, 
111.) the best are probably the pictures of a man chas- 
ing children from the steps, of the plumber and the 
defective water pipe, of carpenters building a house, 
of a man mowing grass, and of a man cutting hair. 
All these are admirable for purposes of simple 
enumeration and description, but not so good for 
eliciting an interpretative response. Pictures equally 
good for all three purposes are needed. Simple 
enumeration of objects passes (series of substan- 
tives. (Cf. Test32.) ■ 

11. ''What is your name?" Preferably asked at 
beginning of sitting. Family name required. 

Age 4. 

12. ''Are you a boy or a girl I" (asked of boys). 
"Are you a girl or a boy?" (of girls). 

13. Show successively a hey, penny, knife (or 
pencil). ' ' You know what that is. Well, what is it ! " 
Correct naming or interpretative actions pass. 

14. "Repeat: '7 4 8.' Or: '5 9 7.' Or: 
'1 6 3.' " Follow directions in Tests 8 and 9. 
Three digits. 

15. "W^hich of these two lines (pointing to them) 
is the longer ? ' ' 



Point to both at once. 
Cover rest of paper 
when necessary. Hesi- 
tation = — . 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 



123 



Age 5. 

16. ^ 'Here are a couple of boxes, which look alike, 
don 't they T ' " But they don 't weigh the same. One 
is heavier than the other. Now I want you to lift the 
one after the other, this way, and give me the one 
which feels the heavier. Feel carefully." E takes 
each box successively between two fingers, or the 
thumb and finger, of the right hand, and lifts it about 
1 cm. Use similar metal salve boxes of the same size. 
Filling must not rattle. + if right in 2 of 3 trials, 
with 3 and 12 grams (or repeat with 6 and 15 grams). 

17. ''Draw a fig- 
ure like this (as 
nearly like this as 
you can)": + if 
right angles are 
fairly well pre- 
served, if figure has 
squared appearance, 
or is recognized as 
an approximate 
square. Proportions 
need not be exactly 
correct. S must use 
pen. Record time. 
E, non-committal, asks after S has finished: "Is it 
good?" "Is it like this?" 

17a. ' ' Eepeat : ' In the winter time we skate on the 
ice.' 

Or: 'I heard a bird singing in the treetops.' 
Or: 'We should starve if we had nothing to eat.' " 
Ten syllables. Follow directions in Test 8. 

18. Place on table before S a rectangular visiting 



124 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

card, about 4.5 by 7.5 cm., and also triangles cut diag- 
onally from a similar card and placed thus : 



fc^ 



V 



*'Put these two pieces (pointing to the triangles) 
together so that the two will look like this one (point- 
ing to the rectangle)." If necessary: "Change them 
about until you get them right. Now quickly. ' ' Ee- 
peat instructions if necessary. Restore triangles to 
original position if they get turned over. At close : 
*'Are you done?" or: ''Is it right?" E should not 
indicate approval or disapproval by manner or word. 
Record time. 

19. Place four bright pennies, heads up, Y^ cm. 
apart, in a row. "You know what these are, don't 
you." If not, E informs S. "How many pennies 
are there? Point to each one as you count them 
aloud." Cf. Test 33. 

Age 6. 

20. "Hold up your right hand." "Touch your 
left ear." (Alternative: "Touch your right ear." 
"Hold up your left hand.") A mistake rapidly cor- 
rected = -h. The slightest doubt, if not removed by 
a further question (left eye, right leg), = — . E 
gives no hint by word or manner. 

21. ' ' Repeat : 'In the summer time we like to take 
long morning walks in the park. ' 

Or: 'When we get up in the morning we dress 
and then have our breakfast.' 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 125 

Or: 'I saw two horses pulling a wagon on a 
very steep road.' " See directions in Test 8. Six- 
teen syllables. 

22. Show the pretty and ugly faces in pairs. 
''Which of these two faces is the prettier (or 
uglier)?" Or: "Which is the good-looking one?* 
12 3 All three must be correct. Both art 
pretty = — . 

23. "You know what a fork is, don't you?" 
("You have seen a fork." "Well, tell me, what is a 
fork?" If necessary, repeat and urge. Similarly 
for chair, table, horse, house, mama. (Alternative 
words: spoon, bed, drum, cow, father.) Kecord re- 
plies verbatim. Definition by stating use, or mate- 
rial or parts of object passes (3 out of 5). E. g., a 
fork is to eat with. A fork is made of wood and iron. 
A fork has a handle and tines. Classificatory or 
logical definition (class or superordinate term) 
passes Test 44. In case a classificatory definition 
has not been proffered spontaneously, say, after S 
has finished the series : ' ' Good, so we may say that 

a mama is a ?" And similarly with the other 

words, proceeding in reverse order {i. e., house, 
horse, table, chair). 

24. "Now I want you to do something for me (do 
me a little favor). Take this key and place it on that 
chair (pointing) ; then shut (or open) that door 
(pointing) ; and then bring me that box. Remem- 
ber, first the key on the chair, then shut the door, 
then bring the box. Now go." Make certain that 
the child perceives the objects. No aid. Triple or- 
der must be entirely correctly executed. 

25. "How old are you?" Answer in years 



126 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 





W^ 




GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 127 

passes. Verify by official record. (Supplementary: 
''When is your birthday?") 

26. "Is this morning or afternoon" — or: *'Is it 
the morning or afternoon now ? ' ' Eeverse order in 
the afternoon. Emphasize both terms equally. 

Age 7. 

27. Show the unfinished figures (p. 128) one at 
the time. ''What is lacking (or missing) in this pic- 
ture (for the standing woman) f " Or: "in this face 
(for each of the faces)?" "Look at it carefully." 
Three correct out of 4 pass. Expose pictures one at 
a time. ' ' Eyes ' ' instead of ' ' eye, ' ' and ' ' hands ' ' in- 
stead of "arms" — H-. "One ear" for face without 
eye, and "one eye" for face without nose = — . 

28. "How many fingers have you on your right 
hand?" "On your left?" "On both hands?" 
Prompt answers, without counting, required for all 
three questions. Correct number of fingers, with or 
without thumbs, passes. 

29. Ask S to write the following from copy : 

("Copy these words." Eecord time, -j- if legible 
to one unfamiliar with original. 

30. "Here is a figure that I want you to draw. 
Make it as much like this (pointing to the diamond) 
as you can. " Or : " Draw one like it. ' ' Eecord time. 
Must be recognizable as a diamond. (See Test 17.) 
(Supplementary question: "What do you call the 
drawing?" 



128 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 





GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 129 




31. ^'Repeat: '4739 5.' Or: '1 4 
6 2 8.' Or: '4 5 9 3 7.'" See directions 
in Tests 8 and 9. Five digits. 

32. Same as Test 10. Description of actions and 
scenes passes. S must tell what is taking place, what 
is being done, in the picture. Sentences or phrases, 
instead of disconnected words. Correct explanation 
or interpretation of the pictures (S tells why they 
are doing so and so — subjective interpretation of 
actor's characters or motives), also passes this age — ■ 
and possibly entitles him to a credit in Age XII. 

33. Counts aloud 13 pennies as in Test 19. S 
must touch each with finger. No omissions or double 
countings. 

34. ' ' What is that % ' ' Display (but not in the or- 
der of value) successively the heads of a bright 
penny, quarter, dime and nickel. No error. Cf. 
Test 48. 

Test for Moronity — Mentality of 8 to 12 Years. 
Age 8. 

35. '*! want you to read this piece (or story) 
aloud." Place the following before S (53 words) : 



180 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

Three Houses Burned. 
New York, September 5th.— A fire last night burned 
three houses in Water Street. It took some time to put 
it out. The loss was fifty thousand dollars, and seventeen 
families lost their homes. In saving a girl who was asleep 
in a bed, a fireman was burned on the hands. 

Two seconds after S has finished, continue : "Now 
tell me what you read about." "What did it say?" 
"Tell me as well as you can in your own words." 
Later: "Anything else?" No specific questions, no 
aid (except to pronounce difficult words), but give 
time enough. Purpose of test unknown to S. Record 
time of reading, miscalled words and verbatim re- 
production. Observe speech defects. Score as fol- 
lows: 

New York, | September 5th. | A fire | last night | 
burned | three houses | in Water Street. | It took 
some time | to put it out. | The loss | was fifty 
thousand dollars, | and seventeen families | lost their 
homes. | In saving | a girl | who was asleep | in a 
bed, I a fireman | was burned | on the hands. | (20 
memories.) One-half credit may be scored for the 
following part-unities: September | 5th | three | 
houses I Water | Street | seventeen | families | fifty 
thousand | dollars. Unessential words may be 
omitted without loss. Two memories or unities (sim- 
ple ideas, as above) pass. 

36. Show S 3 one-cent and 3 two-cent stamps, 
pasted in a row on a card thus : 1 1 1 2 2 2. 
"You know what these are?" If S does not know, 
tell him the value of the stamps. "How much would 
you have to pay for all of them at the postoffice?" 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OP TESTS 131 

Or: ''What do they all cost?" ''Point to each one 
and count them up. " Time limit: 10 sec. 

37. Place saturated (but not glossy) red, yellow, 
green, and blue papers (2 by 6 cm.), pasted on a gray 
cardboard, before S. Point to each color in succes- 
sion, beginning with red, as rapidly as possible, say- 
ing : ' ' What do you call this color ? " ( Or : "I want 
you to name these colors, as I point to them, as fast 
as you can.") Don't ask, "What kind of a color is 
that ? " or : " Which color is that "? ' ' Must name all 
correctly. Time limit: 6 sec. 

38. "I want you to count backward from 20 to 
(or 1) as fast as you can." If necessary, add: "Be- 
gin with 20, then 19, and so on. Now quickly. ' ' No 
prompting. One omission or transposition allowed. 
Time limit: 20 sec. 

39. Give S a pen. "I want you to write a little 
sentence (or story) which I shall give you. Now 
listen carefully : ' The pretty little girl. ' (Or: 'Cats 
like to play with rats.') Now write that." E may 
repeat sentence, but should not show copy. Record 
writing time. Orthography need not be perfect. 
Tell S, if necessary, to spell the best he can. Must 
be legible to one unfamiliar with original. 

40. "You know what paper is?" "And cloth?" 
"Are they the same (or alike)!" "No; why not?" 
"What is the difference?" Same procedure for 
butterfly and fly, ivood and glass. For the latter two 
the questions may be abbreviated if S has grasped 

the idea: "What is the difference between and 

?" (Alternative pairs: knife and fork, sugar 

and salt, stone and egg.) The distinctions should be 
made from memory. Time: 2 minutes for 2 of 
the 3. 



132 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

Age 9. 

41. "What date is it today?" If necessary: 
''What day of the week (or: which one of the week 
days?" ''What month f' '^What day of the month 
{mimher of the day) ?" "What yearf" Date (day 
of month) may be three days wrong. 

42. "Now tell me the names of all the days of the 
week in the right order as fast as you can." "What 
do we call the week days ? Now quickly. ' ' May start 
on any day. No prompting. Time limit: 10 sec. 
(Supplementary questions: "How many days in a 
week!" "If today is Monday (or Thursday, or 
Saturday), what day was yesterday?") 

43. "Suppose that we play store a while. You 
are the storekeeper and I come to your store to buy 
4 cents' worth of candy (or gum, peanuts, etc.), and 
give you this quarter (or 25-cent piece). How much 
change (money) would you have to give me back? 
There is the money; now pick out the change and 
hand it to me." If S says 21 cents, reply: "Good; 
now count out the money." Place on the table, face 
up, without overlapping, 13 pennies, 5 nickels and 3 
dimes. S must actually count out the change. The 
test is in need of standardization. E may try 25 
cents — 6, or 25 cents — 5, or 25 cents — 7 (25 cents 
— 9 is too hard) ; or $1.00 — 80 cents. 

44. Same as Test 23. Classificatory definition 
passes (giving class term or superordinate concept) ; 
e. g., "A table is a piece of furniture; a chair is a 
movable seat; a fork is a table or eating utensil; a 
horse is an animal, or a four-footed animal that 
pulls ; a mama is a mother, or a woman with a child. ' ' 

45. Same as 35. Six memories pass. 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OP TESTS 133 

46. Place the boxes fairly near together, but out 
of correct order, in a row before S. ' ' Here we have 
five boxes. They look alike, but don't weigh alike. 
I want you to lift them this way (see Test 16), and 
give me the one that feels the heaviest. Feel care- 
fully." After S has selected the heaviest: ''Now 
give me the heaviest one of the four. ' ' Then : ' ' Now 
the heaviest of the three," etc. E places boxes on 
table in the order selected by S, and makes a record 
of each trial (paste initials of weights on under side). 
S may be allowed to revise. ("Are you satisfied?" 
' ' If you like, lift them rapidly again ' ' — in the order 
in which selected). Use 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 grams. 
Boxes must be indistinguishable. Time: 3 minutes 
for two correct in three trials if necessary. (Supple- 
mentary: number of mistakes = the number of 
changes needed to give the right order, from 2 to 12.) 

Age 10. 

47. "Tell me the names of all the months of the 
year in the right order as fast as you can." "What 
do we call the months 1 ' ' May start with any month. 
No prompting. One omission or inversion allowed. 
Verbatim record. Time limit: 15 sec. 

48. "What is that?" Or: "AVhat do you call this 
coin (or bill)?" As in Test 34. Use cent, nickel, 
dime, quarter, half-dollar, dollar, and one, two, five 
and ten dollar bills. 

49. "I want you to make up a sentence in which 
you must use the words hoy, river and ball (or New 
York, money, river, or girl, dollar, lake). You can 
make the sentence long or short, and you can use any 
other words that you like, but you must use the three 



134 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

words hoy, river and hall. " Or : * ' Tell me something 
about a boy, a river and a ball, all in one sentence. ' ' 
If S stops with two of the words: "But you must 
also say something about hall (or whichever word is 
omitted) in the same sentence. Now try again." 
The statements may be imaginative, but should not be 
absurd. A compound sentence with two distinct 
ideas (two co-ordinate phrases) passes: e. g., ''The 
boy crossed the river, and went to a ball." "New 
York has several rivers, and very much money." 
Three sentences or three independent clauses count 
failure; e. g., "The boy is strong; the river is wide; 
and the ball is round." Cf. 52. Time limit: 1 
minute. 

50. Ask S, moderately slowly and distinctly, the 
following questions (one repetition allowed if neces- 
sary) : "What's the thing to do?" (or: "What 
ought you to do?") : 

(1) "When you miss a train?" 

(2) "When a friend hits you without meaning 
to?" 

(3) "When you break something that belongs to 
somebody else?" 

(4) "When you are on the way to school and 
find that it is later than usual (or notice that you'll 
be late for school) ?" 

(5) "Before you take part in something impor- 
tant (or in some important business) ?" 

(6) "What should you answer when asked to say 
what you think (or give your opinion) about someone 
you don 't know very well ? ' ' 

(7) "Why should we forgive a wrong done by 
someone when he is angry (or when he is mad) more 
quickly than when he is not angry ? ' ' 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 135 

(8) ''Why should you make up your mind about 
(judge) a person by his actions rather than by his 
words (or by what he does rather than what he 
says)V' Record answers. Five correct pass. Time 
limit: 20 sec. each. Use judgment in marking. 
Illustrative replies : (1) + : Wait for the next. Take 
another. — : Hurry. Go to the next station. Walk. 
(2) + : Forgive. Excuse. Don't be angry. Don't 
cry. Don't do anything to him. Don't tell mother. 
Say nothing. Tell him to be more careful next time. 

— : Hit him. Cry. Tell mother or "grown-ups." 
Get angry. Avoid him. (3) + : Apologize. Offer 
to pay, or buy another. Fix it. — : Run away. Let 
it lie. Let him break something of yours. Weep. 
It is a shame. (4) + : Hurry, run. If S says : ''Ask 
pardon of, or tell, teacher," give chance to correct 
by emphasizing: "When you are still on the way?" 

— : Go home. Go the next session. Cry. Think 
over what to say. Get up earlier. Ask what time it 
is. (5) -f : Prepare. Think it over. Get ready. 
Practice. Ask someone. — : See if you have time. 
Ask if you dare. Say you'll do it. (6) + : I don't 
know. I don't know him. Say nothing. Say what I 
know. — : I don't know what his name is. Ask what 
his name is. He is good, or he is bad. (7) + : Be- 
cause when angry we act without thinking, can't con- 
trol ourselves, not responsible. — : Because we 
ought to forgive. The Bible says so. (8) + : Ac- 
tions speak louder than words. Can see what he 
does. May not mean what he says. — : Because he 
is wrong. 

Supplementary problems: the following may, 
after trial, be fitted into their proper ages. Some of 
the above are too easy, others too hard for Age X; 



136 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

*'What ought you to do?" (1) ''When you feel 
sleepy?" ''Cold?" "Sick?" (2) "When some- 
body has stolen something (or your pencil, knife, 
ribbon, etc.) from you?" (3) "When somebody has 
told a lie about you?" (4) "When the house you 
are living in catches fire?" (5) "When somebody 
says he is sorry (begs pardon) because he has hurt 
(offended you)?" (6) "When you have been pun- 
ished, although you have done nothing wrong?" 
(7) "When you want to buy something (cap, ball, 
dress, doll, etc.), but don't have the money?" (8) 
"Why is it easier to say that you'll do something 
than to c?o it ? " The first three questions in the first 
and the first four questions in the second set are 
easier than the remainder. 



50a. 


"Repeat: '7 1 9 6 5 3.' Or: '4 8 7 


2 5 1. 


' Or: '3 7 6 9 8 2.'" See Test 9. Six 


digits. 






Age 11. 



51. "I am going to read you some sentences in 
which there is something silly (foolish, or absurd, or 
a catch). Listen carefully, and try to tell me what 
the nonsense is." If necessary: "Can you say 
that?" "Why not?" If the answer is unclear: 
"How should it read?" 

(1) "Yesterday there was an accident on the rail- 
road, but it wasn't serious; there were only forty- 
eight killed." (2) "The police found yesterday the 
body of a young girl cut into eighteen pieces; they 
think that she killed herself." ("Do you think so?") 
(3) "I have three brothers, Paul, Ernest and my- 
self." ("Who were they, then?") (4) "A poor car- 
penter fell, broke his head and died. They have 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OP TESTS 



137 



taken him to the hospital, but do not think that he 
will recover." (''What did they do that was fool- 
ish)?" (5) "Someone said: 'If I should kill myself, 
I wouldn't do it on Friday, because Friday would 
bring me bad luck.' " Speak clearly, slowly and 
with expression. Time: about two minutes for three 
correct. 

Illustrative marking: (1) +: Forty-eight are 
many. That was serious. — : It can't be serious. 
It might have been worse. (2) -f- : Could not cut 
herself into eighteen pieces. — : Somebody may 
have murdered her. She wouldn't kill herself. (3) 
H- : You have only two brothers. You cannot be 
your own brother. "Myself" is no brother. Should 
not say "myself." — : Say "I" instead of "my- 
self." Place "I" before the two brothers. (4) -\- : 
He is already dead. A dead man can't recover. 
Should not have taken a dead man to the hospital. 
— : They can cure him if he has not hurt himself 
badly. He cannot live. (5) -f : If you kill yourself, 
the day doesn't matter. Friday cannot bring bad 
luck to a dead man. — : That is superstition. Fri- 
day is no more imlucky than any other day. He 
wouldn't commit suicide. 

Supplementary list. After due trial some of the 
following should prove available at some level: (1) 
"Last night I saw a man in the street, with his hands 
in his pockets and twirling a cane." (2) "Next 
Christmas was a beautiful day, and we received 
many presents." (3) "Last Friday two of my 
friends called upon me. In the evening all four of 
us went to the theatre." (4) "It would take us all 
day to walk from New York to Chicago." (5) 
' ' Johnny bought a little rubber ball. He paid $1.00 
for it." 



138 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

52. Same as Test 49. Simple sentence (single 
idea), or complex co-ordinated sentence, passes, thus : 
''The boy threw the ball into the river;" "As I was 
walking in New York, I found money near the river." 

53. "I'm going to give you a few minutes in 
which I want you to speak as many single words as 
you possibly can; not sentences, but single words; 
any words at all, just as they come, like school, or 
dog, or cap, or grass. Speak aloud. Now, remem- 
ber: just as fast as you can." If S stops: "Don't 
stop." "More yet." Verbatim record. Sixty 
words, exclusive of duplicates, in three minutes. 

54. "You know what kindness means'?" "What 
does it mean?" "Tell what it is to show kindness." 
If necessary: "Give an example." Allow time as 
long as S reflects. Same for charity and justice 
{jealousy). Two correct, with essential idea (phrase- 
ology immaterial) : kindness requires notion of 
goodness, affection, sympathy, helpfulness; charity, 
of aid rendered unfortunate people ; justice, of law 
or rule or treatment according to deserts, fairness. 
Justice is to be just = — . 

55. "Here is a sentence (show the first one) in 
which the words are all mixed up (or are out of 
place). I want you to read it through aloud, and 
then put the words together (orally) in the right 
order, so that they make sense." Or: "Eead these 
words aloud. ' ' After S is through : ' ' Did they make 
any sense!" "No, why not?" ("out of order"). 
' ' Good ; now put them together in the right order. ' ' 
If S fails on first sentence, E may arrange it for him, 
but no further aid. Show sentences singly. Two 
satisfactory. Time limit: 1 minute each. 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 189 

a defends dog good to asked paper the I 

his bravely master teacher correct my have 

evening for we last 
park started the early 

Age 12. 

56. ''Eepeat: '2964375.' Or: '1 6 
9 5 8 4 7.' Or: '9 2 8 5 1 4 6.'" Direc- 
tions in Test 9. Seven digits. 

57. ''Do you know what a rhyme is?" "No?" 
It's a word that sounds like, or ends like, another 
word; as cat like pat, or fat, or r«^." Now give me 
three words that sound like hall (or coy, day, mill).^^ 
Time: 1 minute for three rhymes with one word. 
Trials with two words. 

58. ' ' Eepeat : ' The other day I saw in the street a 
pretty dog who carried in his mouth a basket of 
strawberries.' 

Or: 'Johnny likes to go on visits to his grand- 
mother, because she always tells him many funny 
stories. ' 

Or: 'It should be the wish of every child to grow 
up to become an honest and useful man or woman. ' ' ' 
See Test 8. Twenty-six syllables. One out of three 
correct. 

59. "Here are a couple of questions that I want 
you to try to answer. Now listen. 'A girl who was 
walking in the woods in a park saw something hang- 
ing from the branch of a tree that made her so much 
afraid that she ran to the nearest policeman and told 
him what she had seen.' What do you think she 
saw? What was it?" 

" 'My neighbor has been having strange visitors. 



140 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OP MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

First came a doctor, then a lawyer, and then a 
preacher.' Why did these three go to his house, the 
one after the other 1 What happened there ? ' ' Both 
answers must be correct: (1) + : A body. A 
corpse. A man has hanged himself . (2) + : Some- 
one is dying. 

Age 13. 

60. Have on hand a supply of paper sheets, about 
5 or 6 inches square. ' ' Watch what I do. Now I fold 
the paper once this way (into halves). Now once 
that way (at right angles so that the paper is quarto- 
folded). Now I cut out a piece here (a triangular 
hole, about 1x1 inch, in the middle of the closed 
edge), and now I cut off this corner (the partly 
closed corner on the same edge). How would the 
paper look now if I should open it like this (demon- 
strate with a similarly folded but uncut paper) ? 
Try to imagine that you can see it open like this 
paper, and draw it the way you think it will look 
open (or draw the holes as they will look when the 
paper is open)." Cut with scissors. Do not show 
excised triangle, nor indicate how many diamonds 
there are. I have given + on one diamond. 

As children who mingle are likely to coach one an- 
other, it is advisable to supplement the test, when 
used in the same school or district, by using one or 
the other of the following variant forms, cut simi- 
larly in the closed edge of the twice-folded paper : 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 



141 





61. "Suppose I should turn this lower half 
(pointing to ABC) around, and place it against the 
upper half (pointing), so that this corner (pointing 
to C) would touch that corner (B), and so that this 
edge (CB) would touch this edge (BA) ; what would 
the new card (form) look like then? Now I'll re- 
move this lower part (place it a short distance from 
the other, in the original position), and I want you 
to try to imagine that you see it placed as I have said, 
and draw the whole figure. Begin by drawing the 
upper half the way it is lying." ''Good; now the 
other half the way I said." Speak clearly. One 
repetition allowed. No further aid. -f if angle at B 
is approximately correct and if AB is longer than 
CB. 




142 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

62, *'I'm going to give you pairs of words which 
either mean pretty much the same thing, or which 
sound somewhat alike, but have a different meaning. 
I want you to tell me how they differ. What is the 
difference between them I" Pleasure and honor. 
Evolution and revolution. Poverty and misery. 
Event and advent. Pride and pretension. 

Pass if 3 of 5 are correctly distinguished (if some 
legitimate difference is pointed out, however crude 
the language, or if the difference is satisfactorily 
illustrated). 

Suggestions and General Directions for Administer- 
ing the Tests. 

1. Make yourself thoroughly familiar with the 
tests, their intent and technique, before attempting 
to administer them. Best of all, attend a demonstra- 
tion clinic by a psycho-clinicist who has become ex- 
pert in their use. The fact that the tests do not 
require delicate instruments of precision does not 
obviate trained skill in their administration. 

2. Attempt to win S's confidence and set him at 
ease at the very outset. A kindly greeting, a cheerful 
manner, a sympathetic glance, an assuring smile, a 
pat on the shoulder will melt the icy barrier with 
most children. In mental examination the person- 
ality of the examiner is fully as important as skill 
in manipulating the tests. Some individuals are con- 
stitutionally or temperamentally unfitted for the 
work of mental examination. 

3. Encourage S, whether he does well or poorly, 
to do his best by rather fulsome praise or lavish evi- 
dences of appreciation. Nothing equals liberal ex- 
pressions of approbation for inciting a child to put 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 143 

forth his best efforts. These are tests, not teaching 
exercises. Do not criticise, blame, intimidate or 
arouse obstinacy. Be tactful and patient, and, above 
all, adaptable. Dispositions differ. There are some 
subjects who cannot be won by the arts of praise or 
cajolery; these must be aroused out of their state 
of unresponsiveness by other expedients. But it is 
only seldom that any subjects need to be prodded or 
threatened. 

4. Give no aid other than such as is permitted in 
the various tests. 

5. Adhere unvaryingly to the conditions laid 
down in each test. Eventually the conditions will be 
multiplied and improved. The ^'supplementary" 
tests, which are extraneous to the Binet-Simon scale, 
may be given at the discretion of E. "Alternative" 
questions may be used in testing the same child a 
second time, or in testing different children in the 
same school, to minimize the possibilities of coaching. 

6. It is not necessary to follow a constant order 
in giving the different tests. But it is better to start 
with tests beneath rather than above S's mental 
level. Initial impressions count for much. Difficult 
tests at the outset tend to discourage S at the begin- 
ning, and thus affect adversely the later tests. The 
following order is suggested for medium or high 
grade S's: numbers 35 (45), 10 (32), 46, 42, 41, 47, 
34 (48), 43, 49 (52), 50, 51, 54, 23 (44), 55, 31, 14, 50a, 
or 56, 58, 21, 17a, 53 and 57. It is inadvisable to give 
57 immediately before 53, as some fall into the error 
of supposing that only rhymes are wanted or groups 
of words in triplets ; or 10 immediately before 35, 
as some S's confuse what was read with what was 



144 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

seen in the pictures (otherwise 10 makes a good ini- 
tial test) ; or 43 before 34 for obvious reasons. 

7. Test S extensively both below and above the 
mental age which he passes, particularly above. Give 
all the higher tests unless it is obvious beyond ques- 
tion that the tests are too difficult. Do not fall into 
the error of taking things for granted, nor acquire 
the habit of omitting difficult tests because of indo- 
lence. Only by luide-range testing shall we be able 
to arrive at a satisfactory individual diagnosis or be 
able satisfactorily to criticise or revise the scale. 

8. Never examine S's in groups; the work is 
clinical. Ordinarily, do not examine in the presence 
of spectators ; S should be alone with the examiner 
or with the examiner and his assistant. 

9. The tests should be carried out in a room that 
is well lighted and free from interruptions or noise. 
Some tests require absolute quiet. 

10. Always record as many details of S's verbal 
or other reactions as time permits ; they may even- 
tually attain a significance not contemplated in the 
tests themselves. Verbatim records are the ideal 
to be approximated. 

11. In timing, measure the actual time of the act 
of execution. This assumes that S begins to respond 
as soon as the test has been explained, particularly 
in tests 36, 37, 38, 42 and 47. But if S reacts very 
slowly, it is advisable to record both the time re- 
quired to start and the time required to perform. It 
is well to avoid a too pedantic insistence on the time 
conditions. Some S's are slow but thorough. With 
such a slight overstepping of the time limits is im- 
material. 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 145 

12. E may read the selection in 35 at the normal 
rate for such S's as are unable to read because of 
defective vision, but whose intelligence justifies the 
belief that they could read if they had good eyes. 

13. The attempt has been made to standardize 
the sentences in 8, 17a, 21 and 58 by using only 
single, simple concrete sentences with a familiar 
context. 

14. The following tests are probably too easy for 
the age standards to which they are assigned: 25, 
33, 37, 42, 47, 48, 50 (first set) and 57. The following 
are probably too difficult: 18, 21, 39, 43 (as 25 cents 
— 9), 44, 45, 46, 53, 54, 55, 58-62. The need to verify 
these probabilities and to fit all the tests to their 
proper ages is urgent. 

15. The following test, given in connection with 
33 or 43, proved suggestive among feeble-minded 
epileptics : ''Which would you rather have, 73 cents 
or 59 cents (or 62 cents or 48 cents) ?" Possibly it is 
adapted to some age-standard. 

16. The following sjonbols may be used in mark- 
ing the records: plus sign (-f ), passed; minus sign 
( — ), failed; i/^, one-half credit (in rare instances in 
which the responses are not entirely wrong) ; ?, eval- 
uation of response uncertain; !, absurd response; 
I, ignorance or inability to comprehend the question 
or test ; T, timidity ; E, resistance ; In, Inattention. 

17. Credit the examinee (S) with the age in which 
all the tests, or all but one, are passed. Credit one 
year for every (additional) five tests passed at 
higher levels, or .2 year for each advance point (i. e., 
multiply the advance points by two and express as a 
decimal. Thus 5% = 5.6). Record the chronological 



146 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 

ages in years and months (thus 8^), and the mental 
ages in years and tenths (decimals). The record 
should be made on a specially prepared record form. 

PERSONAL, HEEEDTTAEY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA.^ 

It is particularly important to secure the following 
data in the study of defectives : 

Personal Factors (and Anamnesis). 

Full name Sex Born Birthplace 

Nationality Grade Degree and 

character of education: schools attended 
months attended Years in each grade 

Years retarded Nature of reported school 

capacities Incapacities 

Character of school work at present Present 

health Infant and childhood diseases and 

accidents Vaccination 

Development (speech, standing, sitting, walking, 
dentition, pubescence). 

Stigmata of degeneration: Anatomical (anomalies 
of head, face, teeth, ears, limbs, genital organs, skin, 
body in general). 

Physiological (anomalies of sensory, motor, genito- 
urinary, speech and instinctive functions, and puber- 
tal retardation). 

Psychic (feeble-mindedness, aberrations, disequiii- 
bration, automatisms, one-sided talents, sexual per- 

^The author's syllabi for the observational study of the personal, 
social, industrial-motor and school efficiencies of defectives may be 
obtained from the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics, at Skill- 
man (Forms III and IV). For a well-balanced syllabus for the clini- 
cal examination of children consult Edmund Bubke Huey. Back- 
ward and Fecble-Minded Children. Baltimore : Warwick & York, Inc., 
1912, Chapter VI. 



GUIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS 147 

version, moral delinquency, eccentricity, delusions, 
imperative ideas, illusions, hallucinations, psy- 
choses). 
Visual acuity Auditory acuity Manuometry 

Vital capacity Height Weight Nu- 
trition Circulation Pulse Temperature 

Eeflexes Temperament and disposition 

Attitude toward others Deportment Mental 

and physical habits, good bad Complexion 

Color of eyes of hair 

Hereditary Factors. 

Birthplace of father of mother Num- 

ber of brothers of sisters Mental and phys- 

ical conditions of brothers and sisters Order of 

birth Weight at birth Condition at birth 

Premature delivery Condition of mother at 

birth Mother's age at birth Father's age 

The following data regarding father, mother 
and blood relatives : longevity, diseases, deformities, 
neuroses, psychoses, dependency, vagrancy, drug 
and alcoholic habits, criminal tendencies, sex perver- 
sions, age at death, causes of death 

Environmental Factors. 

Home conditions sanitary economic 

moral Father's occupation Mother's oc- 

cupation Character of community, hygienically, 

morally, educationally Of street influences 

Of amusement resorts Of play- 

mates and associates 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Accrediting, basis for Age XIII ; 

see advance grading. 
Administration of B.-S. tests, 

cliapter IV. 
Adults, superiority, 98 ; see ma- 
turity differences. 
Advance grading, 22, 30, 45, 51. 
basis, 26f. 
witti epileptics, 31. 
Age, increase in capacity vpitti, 
69 ; differences, see maturity 
differences. 
Age-norms, discrepancies, 27, 
30f. 

easiest or most difficult, 30, 
37f, 39f, 41, 43f, 47f, 50. 
range of variation, 37. 
tests of accuracy, 33, 59. 
variation, 35f, 38f, 40, 46. 
variation of in relation to 

difficulty of test, 40. 
see norms. 
Age-standards ; see age-norms. 
Amateurs in mental testing, 
110; see Binet-Simon scale, 
untrained users. 
Ambidextrality, 89. 
Anamnesis record, 146. 
Antero-posterior sway ; see atax- 

iagraphic sway. 
Anthropometric norms, 8. 
Association word test, B.-S., 61, 
77f, 97. 
M. v., 94. 
Ataxiagraphic test, 65f, 90f. 
M. v., 97. 
Methods, 66. 
Ayres, 104. 

Barr, 90. | 

Bell, 45. I 

Binet, 10, 47, 55, 89. I 

Binet and Simon, 118. I 



Binet-Simon scale, 

accuracy, 45f, 60, 72, 77, 
81f, 89, 104f. 

age-norms (which see), 27, 
30. 

basis of accrediting, 22. 

basis of norms, 10. 

checking, 16. 

classification, 10, 58, 60, 109. 

classification of epileptic 
feeble-minded, 14. 

discrepancies, see age- 
norms. 

discrepant experimental re- 
sults, 55. 

experimental stage, 55. 

general directions for ad- 
ministering, 142. 

guide, chapter IV. 

imperfections or inaccu- 
racy, 2, 27f, 45f, 57, 60, 
117. 

measure of retardation, 10. 

method of scoring, 21. 

method of testing accu- 
racy, 20ff, 33, 59. 

national differences, 55. 

need of trained use, 110. 

need to test fundamental 
capacities, 56. 

order of giving tests, 143. 

relevancy, see accuracy. 

revision, 55f. 

serviceability, see value. 

standardization, 116f. 

training tests, 57. 

untrained users, 1, 110, 116. 

validity, see accuracy. 

value, 2, 9f, 58, 60, 105, 117. 

victimization, 1. 
Bobertag, 44f, 47, 61, 69, 118. 
I Body sway, see ataxiagraphic 
I sway. 



[151] 



152 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 



Boys, epileptic superiority over 

girls, 24. 
Boys, see epileptics, 
Bowditch, 8. 

Carman, 89. 

Childs, 45. 

Children, use of term in tables, 

25. 
Children, see maturity differ- 
ences. 
Clinical psychologist, functions, 

5. 
Classification, epileptics, 14. 

feeble-minded, 14. 

see under Binet-Simon. 
Coefficient of variability, see 

mean variation. 
Color blindness, 69. 
Color test, B.-S., 61, 67f. 

M. v., 94. 
Consulting psychologist, 5. 
Corrective formula, 26. 
Com-tis, 105. 
Curve of distribution, 12. 

continuity, 107. 

epileptic, 108. 

unimodal, 108. 

Data, reliability of author's, 35. 
Decroly and Degand, 47f. 
Defectives, superiority of adult, 
15. 
treatment, 5f. 
Degeneration, epileptic, 24. 
Degenerates, grip, 87. 
Developmental, see norms, rate 
tests. 

Difficult tests, see age-norms. 
Discrepancies, in experimental 
findings, 50, 116. 
from different bases of scor- 
ing, 22f, 25-28. 
see age-norms. 
Distribution, see curve of. 
Dynamometer, calibration, 63f. 

errors, 64f. 
Dynamometry, degenerate, 87. 
importance, 89. 
M. v., 96. 



normal, 87. 
test, 62f, 64, 83f. 
Epileptics, adults, 24, 51f, 95. 
amount of retardation, lOOf. 
boys, 25, 37 (see maturity 

differences), 
children, 51. 
classification, 14f. 
common humanity, 108. 
conditions during test, 107. 
feeble-minded, 16f. 
girls, 37 (see maturity), 
grading based on advance 

credits, 43. 
institutional care, 15. 
intellectual improvement, 

98. 
male superiority, 99f, 101, 

103f. 
memory (which see), 53, 

95. 
mental mechanisms, 20f, 

53. 
mental peculiarities, 20f, 

53, 106. 
non-retardates, 16f. 
practice, 63. 
responses, 54, 106. 
school children, 2. 
sensibility, 54. 
skewed curve, 18, 20-28 

(see skewed), 
superiority to feeble-mind- 
ed, 15. 
test of typical group, 17. 
typical mental station, 15. 

Factors, of skewed epileptic 

curve, 18. 
Feeble-minded curve, 18, 20, 31. 
Feeble-minded, classification, 14. 

standard, 16f. 
Form-board test, 62f, 73f, 97, 
106. 
M. v., 96. 

Galton, 8. 

Girl, see epileptics. 

Goddard, 14, 21, 44f, 47, 55, 106. 

Graded scales, 59, 98, 104, 108. 



INDEX 



153 



Guide, B.-S., chapter IV. 

Hand-grip, see dynamometry. 
Huey, 45, 118, 146. 

Index of righthandedness, 86f, 
89. 

see dynamometry. 

Individual curves of develop- 
ment, 7. 

Institutions for epileptics, 99. 

Irregularity, see mean varia- 
tion. 

Jacob, 107. 
Johnson, 107. 
Johnston, 44f, 47, 118. 

Kuhlmann, 118. 

Male, variation, 104. 

intellectual superiority, 99f, 
101, 103. 
Manuometry, see dynamometry, 

62. 
Maturity differences in tests, 
97f. 
in association test, 77, 79, 

97. 
in ataxiagraphie sway, 90f. 
in color test, 67f. 
in distribution curve, 15, 

Table I. 
in dynamometry, 83f, 88f. 
in form-board test, 73f, 97. 
in M. v., 94f. 
memory of facts read, 81f, 

97. 
in reading test, 71f, 97. 
Mean variation, 93f, 105. 

as test of age-norms, 38. 

in association test, 94. 

in ataxiagraphie sway, 97. 

in color test, 94. 

in dynamometry, 96. 

in form-board test, 96. 

maximal permissible in 

norms, 105. 
in memory capacity, 95. 
in reading test, 94, 95. 
in various traits, 93f. 



Memory of digits, 107. 
Mental examiners, 142. 
Mental levels, impairment, 57. 
Mental measurements, variable, 

94, 105. 
Mental norms, national differ- 
ences, 55. 

see age-norms. 
Mental norms, different social 

stations, 57. 
Mental scales, relevancy in ho- 
mogenous groups, 60. 
see accuracy under Binet- 
Simon scale. 
Mental traits, increase with 
age, 59f. 
variation, chapter III. 
Mental wreckage, epileptics, 54. 
see epileptics, mental pe- 
culiarities. 
Mentation, epileptic, 53. 
Methods of testing B.-S. scale, 
31ff. 

importance, 116. 
vagueness of statements of, 
30. 

Nature, 57. 

Normal age-norms, comparative, 
7. 

see age-norms. 
Normal scales of intelligence, 

21. 
Normal variation, 42. 
Norms, maximal permissible, 
105. 

need of co-operation, 56. 
relation to M. V., 93. 
standard of, 42. 
see age-norms. 
Nurture, 57. 

Orthogenesis, 5. 
Orthogenics, 111. 
Orthophrenics, 5. 
Orthosomatics, 5- 

Physical traits, variation, chap- 
ter III. 
Plan for study of defectives, 6. 



154 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES 



Porter, 8. 

Practice, 63. 

Praise in testing, 142. 

Probability, curve, 17f. 

Psycliical rate norms, 8, 9. 

see rate tests, age-norms. 
Psycho-clinical research, need 
of, 56. 

Range in M. V. of B.-S. age- 
norms, 37, 39, 40f. 
see variation. 
Rate tests of mental develop- 
ment, 1, 7. 
see age-norms, psychical 
rate norms. 
Reading, adult art, 72. 
Reading test, B.-S., 62, 71f, 97, 
106. 

differences between imbe- 
ciles and morons, 73. 
M. v.. 94. 

memory in, 81 f, 97. 
as training test, 73. 
Record, verbatim, 144. 
Reproduction of selection read, 

see reading test, memory. 
Research psychologist, 5. 
Results in education, measure- 
ment, 8. 
Retardation, amount, lOOf. 

Scale of intelligence, common 
for children and adults. 98. 
for both sexes, 104. 
need for, 108. 
practicability, 109. 
see Binet-Simon scale. 
Schuyten, 89. 
Scoring, bases, 21f, 26f. 

see advance grading. 
Sensory discrimination, epilep- 
tics. 54. 
Sex differences, in association 
test. 77, 79, 99. 

ataxiagraphic sway, 90f, 99. 
color test, 67. 99. 
in dynamometry, 83f. 88f, 
99. 



in form-board test. 73f, 76, 

99. 
in M. v., 94f. 
in memory, 81. 
in reading time, 71f, 99. 
Simon, 10, 118. 

Skewed epileptic curve, from 
averaging children's and 
adults' results, 51f. 
from defectiveness of scale, 

52. 
from wide-range method of 

testing, 51. 
concealed by wide-range 

testing, 31. 
see under epileptics. 
Skill, need of in mental test- 
ing, 110. 
see Binet-Simon, untrained 
users. 
Skillman, research, 6. 
Smedley, 8, 89. 
Standard of valid norms, 42. 

see norms. 
Standardization, need of, 116f. 
Survey of human capacity, 56. 
Symbols for marking, 119, 145. 

Technical training, need of in 
mental testing, 110. 
see Binet-Simon, untrained 
users. 
Terman, 45. 

Testing, wide-range, 21, 28-31, 
55, 142. 

see Binet-Simon scale, 
method. 
Tests, too easy or difficult, 30, 

37, 39f, 41, 43f, 47f, 50, 145. 
Timing test, 144. 
Training, influence on tests, 57, 
73. 

Uniformity in testing, 116. 
lack of in B.-S. scale, 41. 
see age-norms. 

Variation, continuity, 107. 

maximal permissible in age- 
norms, 42. 



INDEX 



155 



in mental and physical 

traits, chapter III. 
in normal persons, 42. 
see range, age-norms. 
Vaschide, 89. 

Vineland, method of B.-S. test- 
ing at, 30. 
results, 14. 



Wallin, 5, 6, 8, 45, 109, 118. 
Warning, in use of B.-S. scale, 

109. 
Whipple, 61, 118. 
Wide-range method, see testing. 



DEC 30 1912 



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